Hit by a train, alive to talk about it

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This article was published 28/09/2017 (3071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The last thing Elijah Gunner says he remembers is having a few beers at a party with some friends. Then, things go black.

The 20-year-old woke up in a hospital bed at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. Confused, in pain and wanting to leave, he asked staff where his shoes were.

That’s when he was told both his legs had been amputated — one below the knee, one above it.

“When I woke up and was told that I didn’t have shoes because I didn’t have the lower parts of my legs, I just freaked out. I was angry, really, really angry. But at the same time, a piece of me was grateful I was still alive, able to think for myself, still conscious, not paralyzed,” Gunner said in an interview on Wednesday.

On the night of Sept. 17, Gunner got together with some friends. In the early morning hours the next day, he was hit by a train at the intersection of Molson Street and Norwich Avenue.

With the help of witnesses, the Winnipeg man has been able to piece together what happened, even though he can’t remember much himself.

Around 1 a.m., Gunner and a friend left the party to buy cigarettes. He said young people regularly jump trains at the intersection as a shortcut, climbing up a shed near the railway tracks and using it to hop over parked or slow-moving trains.

Gunner told a friend he was going to jump the train. However, the friend decided to walk around the tracks to a convenience store. When his friend came back from buying cigarettes, he realized something terrible had happened.

“The train was stopped and people were screaming and yelling. There were several people who witnessed it, some of them were youths. And when my friend saw me, my legs were missing and I was crawling from the railway tracks,” Gunner said.

‘It was my own fault’

Gunner spoke with the Free Press at the Health Sciences Centre, which is where he’ll be for the foreseeable future. His recovery is going better than expected, as he’s now able to prop himself up in bed and, with help, use a wheelchair to get around the hospital.

He decided to speak about the incident for a few reasons: to thank the first responders who saved his life, to make clear what happened was his fault and not the railway’s, and in the hopes others will never jump a train again.

“I didn’t want people blaming the railway. Alcohol and stupid choices are what caused this. It was my own fault and I’m just glad nobody else was seriously hurt and that I’m still alive,” he said.

“I feel like there are a lot of people who don’t realize just how dangerous a train can be, moving slowly or not at all. I know people who do it all the time. I don’t want people going out and doing reckless things. Now, because of this, I’m not going to have my legs for the rest of my life.”

‘I felt unwanted wherever I went’

With the loss of his legs; a concussion; abrasions, cuts and bruises all over his body; and the stitches and staples in his head; also comes a new-found sense of purpose and clarity, Gunner said.

“Alcohol and stupid choices are what caused this. It was my own fault and I’m just glad nobody else was seriously hurt and that I’m still alive.”

He recognizes the chain of events that led him to the train tracks on the morning of Sept. 18 stretch back to his birth and, moving forward, hopes to find a way to help children in the same situation as the one he grew up in.

“I was born into foster care and then just bounced around from group home to group home and got in a lot of trouble. It’s literally all I’ve known my life. I don’t think any kid should go through what I went through, and my dream now is to one day open up my own group home,” he said.

“Just because a kid’s parents can’t take care of him, doesn’t mean he should feel unwanted wherever he goes. And that was my issue. I felt unwanted wherever I went. And that led to the heavy drinking and the heavy drinking led to this accident.”

Plans for future: rehab, school

Before he gets the chance to help others, however, Gunner needs to recover from his injuries — which nurses told him could take from five weeks to five months.

He plans to attend an alcohol rehabilitation treatment centre in Ontario (which former foster parents are helping to organize) and get his high school diploma, before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work.

As for now, Gunner said he’s happy to be alive and is doing his best to look at the accident as a character-building experience and a turning point in his life.

“There are people out there with worse situations than me. It’s not a pissing contest, but it’s true,” he said.

“There are also lots of people complaining about things out of their control instead of moving forward.

"Right now, I’m still in control of my situation, because I’m in control of what happens next.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca