Ryan Straschnitzki will celebrate his 19th birthday in a hospital bed in his home province on Friday, two weeks after his hockey team’s bus was involved in a deadly crash that left him paralyzed.
“He’s got a lot of rehabbing (ahead),” said Tom Straschnitzki, Ryan’s father, in a telephone interview with CTV Calgary. “They’re training him to take care of himself and I believe that could be a two or three month process.”
The April 6 collision at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 335, south of the town of Nipawin, involved the Humboldt Broncos’ team bus and a semi tractor-trailer. The crash has claimed 16 occupants of the bus and left several people seriously injured.
Straschnitzki was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon. After a stint in the intensive care unit, ‘Straz’ was moved to another unit where he could spend time with some of his teammates.
“They got to come around and chitchat with him. Then they would start talking the old locker room talk so kind of locked mom out of the room and closed the door,” said Tom Straschnitzki. ““It was good for all the teammates to see each other and talk.”
Tom Straschnitzki says his son has mixed emotions about leaving the hospital in Saskatoon.
“I think (his spirits) were lifted because he was going home but also saddened because he was used to the staff at the Saskatchewan hospital and how great they were,” said Tom. “His buddies were still there – some of them.”
The Straschnitzkis will be remodeling the walkout basement of their Airdrie home ahead of Ryan’s discharge from hospital in the coming months.
“We have a lot of offers to help us with our basement so I think we’ll be busy when I get back this weekend and probably next week.”
Ryan was flown from Saskatchewan to Calgary on Thursday and admitted to the Foothills Medical Centre.
Tom says his son’s progress has been encouraging. “He was alive and breathing and getting better and better each day and that’s all we’re concerned about. Like I told him, we’ll take it one shift at a time, buddy.”
“I think we’re on shift four (of the) first period.”
The RCMP investigation into the fatal collision continues.
With files from CTV’s Brenna Rose
