‘I don’t know how come God didn’t have room for me’ Dauphin senior who survived catastrophic highway crash, daughter reflect on heartbreaking loss, inexplicable luck a year later By: Malak Abas Posted: 5:04 PM CDT Thursday, Jun. 13, 2024

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This article was published 13/06/2024 (768 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Josephine Stokotelny has no real memory of the devastating collision.

The 86-year-old was among the 25 people who boarded a bus in Dauphin to have lunch and some fun gambling a couple of hours away.

Saturday marks exactly one year since she opened her eyes in a field where Highway 5 crosses the Trans-Canada, a scene of unimaginable horror.

That intersection, about a half-hour from the Sand Hills Casino just south of Carberry, is where the bus left a stop sign and was hit by a semi-trailer RCMP said had the right of way.

The bus exploded in flames and twisted metal.

“I was thrown out on a field, and a lot of my good friends… were killed,” she told the Free Press.

“I don’t know how come God didn’t have room for me.”

The crash killed 17 of the seniors who were on the outing; 15 of them died that day.

Stokotelny was rescued by STARS air ambulance paramedics and flown to Health Sciences Centre in critical condition.

She was later moved to the Deer Lodge Rehabilitation Centre for months of physical therapy.

Lynda Thompson, Stokotelny’s daughter, recalled the moments she realized her mom, lovingly called “Baba,” was on that bus, the relief of learning she was alive and the grief of watching other families lose their loved ones.

She called a phone line directing families to HSC, and was asked to describe her mother.

“We didn’t know — we assumed she was one of the dead,” Thompson said. “They already were saying that, for sure, 10 had passed away, and there’s only 25 on the bus, and she’s 86. We were thinking chances weren’t very good.

“The not knowing was horrible.”

Necklace helped to identify Stokotelny

After describing a cross worn on a necklace by her mother, Thompson was told she was alive “so far.”

She and her husband, who live in Lockport, rushed to HSC.

“We didn’t know how broken up she was, but to know that she was one that was still alive… that was an amazing feeling,” Thompson said.

“We didn’t know how broken up she was, but to know that she was one that was still alive… that was an amazing feeling.”–Lynda Thompson

Stokotelny suffered extensive injuries, including brain damage, a fractured pelvis and serious lacerations that required skin grafts.

Most of those injuries have healed, and she’s learned to walk again at Deer Lodge.

The brain injury has taken away some of the things that had previously given her joy.

Before the crash, she was entirely independent and “did not seem 86 years old,” Thompson said, adding her mother was was involved in her church — including conducting the choir — and community events, kept a large garden and went on regular trips.

“She was the one that would be picking up ladies and taking them to appointments and to get groceries,” her daughter said. “She would take them on joy rides on a Sunday afternoon. This has been a real difference. This accident has changed her a lot.”

Thompson said she and her siblings know how lucky they are to have their mother.

“We are really so sad for all the other families who lost a loved one,” she said.

“In fact, sometimes we almost feel guilty. We don’t know why my mom made it and so many others didn’t, and when you’re in a small town, it’s hard, because so many families have been devastated.”

Thompson and Stokotelny credit the kindness and support of the first responders, STARS, Manitoba Public Insurance, Prairie Mountain Health region and a long list of health-care professionals for their support throughout her recovery.

“I thank everybody that prayed for me, and I recovered,” she said.

Family hopes province will increase safety at intersection

Thompson said her family hopes the province does what’s needed to increase safety at the intersection.

Stokotelny is now in a Dauphin assisted-living centre. She continues to regularly attend church, and Thompson said she’s loved by her community. And she has become a great-grandmother twice in the past three months.

“Everybody still wants to be around Baba,” Thompson said. “She’s like a magnet.”

Next to Stokotelny’s chair, there’s a copy of the Free Press from last Decemberthat marked the six-month anniversary of the crash by publishing photos of the passengers who died, including a close friend.

“I’ve got a picture here… of all of them that passed away,” she said. “I knew most of them.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca