Six months after an unthinkable tragedy, survivors and relations of victims of the Highway 1 bus crash close to Carberry are uniting in grief and therapeutic.
On June 15, a bus carrying 25 folks, lots of them seniors from the Dauphin space, collided with a semi on the Trans-Canada Highway close to Carberry, Man. The bus was taking the seniors from Dauphin to the Sandhills Casino for the day.
Seventeen folks have been killed within the crash, and the lives of quite a few households have been modified endlessly.
But on Thursday, a day earlier than the six-month anniversary, survivors and relations of victims got here collectively to share their grief and work in direction of therapeutic.
Bob Bernat, 72, and Alex Senyk, 74, are survivors of the crash. The two have been pals for about three a long time, typically going fishing and snowmobiling collectively. They additionally boarded the bus collectively and spent roughly two months sharing hospital rooms collectively in Brandon and Winnipeg.
“We were together, which was a good thing, because we sat together in the bus, we got injured together in the bus,” Bernat advised Global News.
“We’re lucky to be together, that’s why I wanted both of us together here too, because we could relate to so much stuff.”
Bob Bernat and Alex Senyk are survivors of the bus crash. They’ve been pals for about 30 years.
Jordan Pearn / Global News
The pair say they keep in mind little from that fateful day.
“I wish I could remember. In a sense, I don’t remember anything. I remember getting on the bus … then waking up in the hospital,” Senyk stated.
“I remember being in a hospital. My daughter told me it was Brandon emergency centre,” Bernat stated.
“I keep in mind worms on the partitions, I suppose I used to be so sedated…. I keep in mind one thing about them sticking a tube in my throat. I keep in mind bits and items, once more. As my daughter and my girlfriend advised me, I used to be in Winnipeg, they have been stapling my head. Putting staples in, however I don’t keep in mind the precise cuts on my brow.
“I know one thing: I can’t watch movies with any kind of death in it, I’ll automatically cry.”
For Bernat’s household, receiving information he had survived the crash got here with aid amid the unhappiness.
“My brother, Gavin, was in the car, he didn’t want to come in, he just wanted to stay there until I brought him the news,” Bernat’s daughter, Tammy Koshowski, stated.
“And I feel bad for this to this day, but I was so excited and happy he was alive, I ran across the parking lot and I was going, ‘He’s alive! he’s alive!’ And as I did that, and I looked over, and there was all the families, and they were crying waiting for an answer.”
Bernat and Senyk each wished to fulfill relations of the victims of the Carberry bus crash.
Jordan Pearn / Global News
Bernat and Senyk didn’t discover out what had occurred till waking up in hospital. And they acquired devastating information. Their buddy Frank Perzylo, and his spouse Rose, had died within the crash.
“I lost a good one,” Bernat stated.
“He was very like a strong friend, hey. Like, a good friend. In fact, he was so personable sometimes, we started calling him dad.”
Both Bernat and Senyk have a protracted street forward to restoration. Senyk simply began strolling with a walker a couple of month in the past, and nonetheless makes use of his wheelchair whereas at house. He says he struggles with ache 24-7.
Bernat sustained critical accidents to his face and his lungs collapsed within the crash. Nerve injury can be stopping him from utilizing his proper arm.
But each are decided to get higher. This fall, Bernat, a farmer, climbed within the mix for harvest with some assist. He additionally plans to be there for spring seeding.
“They’re going to have to carry me off that farm. As long as I’m capable — and I was capable, that’s what really upsets me. For my age, I was in pretty good shape. Now I’m useless. That’s what bothers me. I want to make sure I’m there for my son,” Bernat stated, whereas holding again tears.
“That’s what hurts the most, ’cause I put them through stress, to see me like that. I can’t even imagine what went through their heads.”
They wish to make sure the reminiscences and tales of everybody on that bus aren’t forgotten, and so they additionally hope to fulfill the primary responders in the future to thank them personally.
“As soon as I’m able to walk I want to go to Carberry,” Senyk stated.
“I would think they saved our lives.”
Uniting with relations of victims
On Thursday, Bernat and Senyk met a number of relations of victims of the crash.
Adrienne Zurba misplaced her mom, Claudia Zurba, within the crash. Zurba says at 87 years previous, her mother cherished gardening, was a member of the church choir and nonetheless lived on her personal on a farm outdoors of Dauphin.
Zurba says that day her mom drove into city to get on the bus on the seniors centre.
“I didn’t get to talk to her that morning. I usually talk to her every morning, every night,” Zurba advised Global News.
“She left early that morning and when I called there was no answer at the farm. So I knew she was on the road. She went early. Didn’t want to miss the bus. I didn’t find out until my sister called me that afternoon.”
Adrienne Zurba misplaced her mom within the Carberry bus crash. Claudia Zurba was 87 years previous.
Jordan Pearn / Global News
After studying there had been a bus crash, Zurba says she known as the quantity on a poster for the bus service that she had taken an image of.
“So I called the bus driver’s phone and there was no answer,” she stated. That’s when she known as the second quantity on the poster.
“I said, ‘Has there been an accident?’ and she’s like, ‘Yes, I’m so sorry.’ I said, ‘Oh my god, I said, ‘My mom…’ They said, ‘She’s here … we just can’t identify her, Adrienne…. I’m sorry.’”
Two days later, Zurba says their worst nightmare was confirmed when RCMP confirmed up at their door.
Claudia Zurba was an lively member of her group at 87 years previous.
Courtesy / Adrienne Zurba
Claudia Zurba additionally cherished to backyard.
Courtesy / Adrienne Zurba
While the ache remains to be uncooked, Zurba says she wished to return to Dauphin on Thursday to fulfill the survivors and relations because it’s an essential a part of her therapeutic journey and processing the grief.
“I wanted to come here today. I needed to connect with the people that are going through what I’m going through and what our families have been going through,” Zurba stated.
“My mom was a strong lady and she was vibrant and I wanted to know her day, I wanted to know who she was with…. Being with the people that experienced what we have lost and what they have lost helps me know that I’m not alone.”
Jacquie Bailey and Teresa Rausch additionally got here to the gathering on Thursday. Their moms, Catherine Day and Vangie Gilchrist, had been pals for many years after assembly at a Dauphin Kings sport about 50 years in the past.
“They’d go to the movies together, shop together,” Rausch stated.
“Halloween, they loved Halloween,” Bailey added.
Jacquie Bailey and Teresa Rausch’s moms have been pals for about 50 years. They died within the Carberry bus crash.
Jordan Pearn / Global News
“The families always got together and travelled, they went to Nashville together,” Rausch stated.
“They did everything together.”
Bailey says her mom, Vangie Gilchrist, died on the scene of the crash. She was 83 years previous and an lively group member, typically volunteering her time with group initiatives like Meals on Wheels.
Rausch’s mom, Catherine, was taken to hospital in Brandon after which flown to Winnipeg. Rausch says the one means they may determine her was by her tattoo.
“They took us to this bed and my brother and I looked at each other and said, ‘That’s not mom.’ Like, she looked like a football player sitting there, and she was all bruised,” stated Rausch, who additionally stated her mother had sustained accidents to her knee, neck, face and ribs.
“So, we went to hold her hand and we looked at her hand and we said, ‘That’s not her,’ and we had to get the nurse to show us her tattoo to see if it was her.”
Day died in July, making her the seventeenth sufferer of the crash. Rausch says they’re grateful for the additional time they’d along with her. Her mother was responsive and would nod to issues they stated and even was in a position to whisper to them. Her mother even bought to fulfill and maintain her new great-grandson, who was born on July 10, lower than per week earlier than she died.
Teresa Rausch and her mom, Catherine Day. Day was the seventeenth sufferer of the Carberry bus crash.
Courtesy / Teresa Rausch
“(They) laid him on my mom’s chest, mom sobbed, I wasn’t in the room at that time – thank God – but the nurse said, ‘Your mom is sobbing,’” Rausch stated.
“She was in rough shape but we were blessed to have her those extra days and talk to her and be with her.”
Margaret Furkalo, 83, was the sixteenth sufferer of the crash. She died in hospital days after the incident.
“Really bubbly personality, four-foot-11, had a lot of energy,” her son, Patrick Furkalo, advised Global News of his mom.
Margaret Furkalo.
Courtesy / Patrick Furkalo
Furkalo says he’s grateful his household bought an opportunity to say goodbye.
“My youngest sister had a chance to talk to her that night, which was really good,” he stated.
“And just telling you what type of person she was, she had all kinds of things she could talk about but she says, ‘How’s my friend Helen?’” Furkalo stated whereas combating again tears.
“At least we … unfortunately, some of them didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. We had that opportunity.”
Jordan Pearn / Global News
He additionally says it’s tough having his mom miss out on life occasions. She missed his daughter’s highschool commencement by just a few days.
“One of the hardest things was that you’re cleaning up here your parents’ place and you see a half-written graduation card.”
This vacation season can even mark the primary time the households are spending the vacations with one much less seat on the desk.
“Christmas is going to be tough…. I can’t even bring myself to decorate,” Bailey stated.
Vangie Gilchrist.
Courtesy / Jackie Bailey
“My grandson … (is) going to make grandma’s buns…. We found a package of buns in the freezer and we took them home. Simple things like that. They’re hard, just not being able to hug my mom and talk to my mom every day.”
Many of the relations say they really feel with the ability to meet and share their mutual trauma and grief was a key a part of the therapeutic course of.
“You never seem to realize how deep everything goes, and how much these families have to deal with on a daily basis just trying to get over it,” Bailey stated.
“And now I think it puts it more into perspective.”
Survivors, victim family members of Carberry bus crash come together in grief, healing