On January 30, Caleb Harber was hit by a distracted driver while crossing Mackenzie Way.
The incident resonated in town on a variety of levels. “They say true character is revealed in a heartbeat,” writes a family friend. “For Caleb, that heartbeat came in a crosswalk when a drunk driver veered towards him and his girlfriend. Without a second thought for his own safety, Caleb threw her out of the way, taking the full force of the impact himself.”
He saved her life, but at a devastating cost.
Mother Tara Dusseault says the 17-year-old was in the Dawson Creek hospital for about a week, from January 30 to February 6. “He sustained seven skull fractures from being hit by the vehicle and a broken femur,” she says. But what was most worrying for the doctors in Dawson Creek was the head injuries. “They were thinking about sending him to Fort St. John, but the surgeon there was not comfortable doing the operation.”
Instead, on February 6, he was airlifted to Prince George for surgery on his leg. “He was finally considered stable enough,” she says.
“He had to have surgery done under his kneecap and have the end of his femur screwed back together. That involved about twenty staples after surgery that he had removed about a week ago.”
After a round of X-rays, Harber was cleared to go to a room. “We were escorted to paediatrics. There it felt like we were going to be able to breathe again. I gave the nurse the list of medications Dawson Creek had been giving, only to find out that his aftercare in Prince George hadn’t prescribed it.”
Dusseault says she asked the nurse to double check. “She assured me that the doctor said he didn’t need it. The following day he had a seizure. This cost him a lot because it did a number on his surgical site and put him in extreme pain.”
They moved him out of paediatrics, and he spent the next few nights in adult recovery. “This was all very scary for Caleb and just as I had promised him in Dawson Creek, I never left his side except to go get him smoothies and requested food while other family stayed to watch him,” says Dusseault. “I slept on the floor by his side each night until February 9.”
He was released from hospital on February 10.
“My sister called mid-afternoon to tell us about the shooting alert,” she says. “We were all on edge wanting to get home. That night we received the worst news. People we love were dead. And instead of coming home to celebrate we made our way home to mourn.”
They arrived home the next day to a town in shock.
Dusseault says every day he is getting a little better. “He’s still dizzy, but his headaches have gone, so that’s positive. He’s starting to get a little bit of a range of motion in his injured leg but he is not allowed to put weight on it yet. Um he gets his next x-rays at the end of the month.”
Depending on how that goes, he might be able to start putting weight on it.
“Based on the last CT scan, his brain has not stopped bleeding. He’s gonna be on anti-seizure medication for at least a year. It could be longer. He needs to be monitored until after his next CT scan. I am his care aid in the meantime. We take him to the Community Centre for showers a couple times a week. The lifeguards at our community pool have been incredibly kind and accommodating.”
According to the RCMP, the original distracted driving ticket has been cancelled. “A report to Crown Counsel is being drafted for charge assessment by the BC Prosecution Service,” says a RCMP Media Relations officer. “The investigation is ongoing.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
