Mariève Lemay was run over by a truck on the 1er January 2016, in Thailand, 13,161 kilometers from her home, specifies the author who signs One day life sent me a truck. This book is the story of a slow reconstruction and transformation. Interview.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Almost six years after her serious accident, Mariève Lemay still has back pain and her right leg remains fragile, but she is calm. “I’m celebrating my 36th birthday, and I tell myself that this truck that knocked me over was a gift,” she said. It’s been a long and painful reconstruction, but I’m happier today. »
On the first day of 2016, at 5 a.m., on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand, Mariève was run over by a truck, without headlights, which did not stop. A hit and run. She suffers multiple fractures to her pelvis, hip, collarbone and both legs. Quite frankly, in One day life sent me a truck, she recounts her long months where she was bedridden, her extreme pain and her rehabilitation which lasted for years. She went through denial, anger, depression, drug and alcohol use, loneliness.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARIEVE LEMAY
Mariève Lemay, in a wheelchair, a few weeks after her accident
“I was a very active person, and there, bedridden, I felt like a prisoner, I couldn’t do anything without asking for help. Everything was complicated, even going to the toilet was a lot of frustration,” she says.
The hardest thing, beyond the physical and psychological suffering, was not having a deadline for my recovery.
Marieve Lemay
“I had eight operations and each time, I was told that it was the last, that there was a 95% chance of success… then afterwards, with the X-rays, we saw that it didn’t work, it didn’t work. there was no ossification. »
Once out of the hospital, Mariève does not accept her condition and isolates herself. “I was in denial for four years, clinging to the girl I was before the accident. It’s hard to mourn a part of yourself. I couldn’t accept being in a wheelchair, not being independent anymore, not being able to drive, being told that I could never run again. One of the ways of hanging on to the Mariève of before was to drown me in alcohol and drugs, which lessened my suffering. »
She also thought back to the past, couldn’t forgive herself for not having come home with her best friend the night of the accident and for having preferred to party until dawn. “It’s useless, because the ‘ifs’ aren’t time machines. »
Review your values
After her accident, Mariève tried to go back to work too quickly, but she hadn’t recovered and it went wrong (she was a pharmaceutical representative). “I had to let go of that part of my life too, the ambitious businesswoman. »
I realized that my life before was empty and that I only measured my happiness by success and money. I thought a lot about who I was and what I wanted in life, about the values that were important to me.
Marieve Lemay
“I am now a coach, I offer support to people who are experiencing trauma. She points out that there is a psychological sphere in healing. “I did a lot of meditation and visualization. It’s important to believe in your recovery, to be optimistic. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Mariève Lemay poses with her dog, who helped her heal.
The young woman discovered with her accident that she was well surrounded. “I didn’t realize how much my family and friends loved me. The relationship with my father grew stronger, as it did with my friends. Reading the book was more difficult for my mother. I realized that he was the only person with whom I let myself go, with whom I was disagreeable. I shared all my anxieties and frustrations with her, and all the emotions that I did not show to others, I poured out on my mother. I apologized. »
She wants to go back to Thailand, to see the people who cared for her, but for now, she’s going to California with friends, in a skoolieschool bus transformed into a house.
And for those who wish to go on a trip, she recommends that they do not forget to take out insurance. ” It’s very useful. Just the medical flight to repatriate me from Thailand to Montreal cost $200,000, then there were also hospital costs. And above all, check the allocated amount of insurance, in my case, it was 1 million dollars, and it saved my life. »
One day life sent me a truck
Marieve Lemay
Editions au Carré
224 pages