Primaleick
02-28-2005, 06:08 PM
On Feb,17 my home town was in shock when we found out that two little girls were hit by a train one was killed. I've been trying to put it way back in my mind but it's hard. I never knew the girls but just as one of the members of this site died I feel for them. Everyone here is helping the families out in any way they can.
This has reminded me even more not to take life for granted...enjoy life to the fullest and ALWAYS tell your loved ones how much you love them, because you never know what one day will bring to the next.
Below is a copy from the news paper.
Samantha's family thanks God, community
By DEREK GORDANIER
Staff Writer:
Samantha Lefebvre sits quietly in an armchair, just watching television, doing nothing remarkable. Yet her father Dan can't seem to tear his eyes off her.
He knows how close he came a week ago to never seeing his 12-year-old daughter again, and it's as if Lefebvre wants to make up for the time he almost lost.
"We're just so blessed," Lefebvre said, his gaze never straying too far from the still, silent form of his daughter.
"She has a guardian angel. She has to have."
Samantha was walking slightly behind her friend Sabrina Latimer on February 17 when a freight train struck both girls at the level crossing on Bartholomew Street in Brockville.
Sabrina Latimer died instantly, but the impact threw Samantha aside, breaking her right arm, ripping nerves in her neck, arm and hand, causing a blood clot to form in her spinal column.
The young girl faces the prospect of partial paralysis in one hand.
But despite his daughter's severe injuries, Lefebvre knows his family was lucky.
"They say when a train hits, you're either sucked under or thrown and Samantha was thrown," Lefebvre said. "If they'd been walking side-by-side, we would have lost them both.
"Samantha was about a step behind Sabrina. It happened so fast, (Sabrina) was there, then she was gone," he said.
Lefebvre was working at his job at Nitrochem when he got a call February 17 saying simply that his daughter had been struck by a train.
No other details were provided over the phone, and he feared the worst. He rushed to the accident scene near Commonwealth Public School and police initially wouldn't allow him inside their barricades. He was frantic with worry as he waited, hearing from others that a girl had been killed.
Finally, a policeman came to explain that his daughter was one of two girls struck, but she had survived the impact.
His daughter was hurt, but another girl was dead, and Lefebvre's concern switched to the Latimer family for their loss.
"I know what we're going through now and (the Latimer family) just has to be going through such a great deal more. My heart goes out to that family," he said.
Samantha doesn't want to talk about the accident, and who can blame her. She's been talking for days - to family, to police detectives, to federal transportation investigators - and it has kept fresh the trauma of seeing her friend die.
She just wants to rest and recuperate from her injuries and, for now, to be alone with her thoughts.
But her family has a message on her behalf to the community: Thank you so much.
A corner of the living room in the Lefebvre's Bisley Crescent home is chock full of teddy bears, tokens, artwork and bags of letters from people expressing sympathy for Samantha's ordeal.
Samantha's mother Tina Lefebvre said she's been amazed by how the community has rallied to support the family in wake of the accident.
"I just want to express my gratitude to the community and everyone who has supported us," Tina Lefebvre said. "I can't possibly thank everyone. I've always grown up in smaller communities, so when there is something like this, people pull together and it's nice they do that.
"People have been concerned for Samantha," she says. "They're saying, if there's anything we can do just let us know. People have been praying for us, they say they haven't stopped praying.
"I believe in God and miracles," she said. "You have to believe in miracles, because of what happened to Samantha."
This has reminded me even more not to take life for granted...enjoy life to the fullest and ALWAYS tell your loved ones how much you love them, because you never know what one day will bring to the next.
Below is a copy from the news paper.
Samantha's family thanks God, community
By DEREK GORDANIER
Staff Writer:
Samantha Lefebvre sits quietly in an armchair, just watching television, doing nothing remarkable. Yet her father Dan can't seem to tear his eyes off her.
He knows how close he came a week ago to never seeing his 12-year-old daughter again, and it's as if Lefebvre wants to make up for the time he almost lost.
"We're just so blessed," Lefebvre said, his gaze never straying too far from the still, silent form of his daughter.
"She has a guardian angel. She has to have."
Samantha was walking slightly behind her friend Sabrina Latimer on February 17 when a freight train struck both girls at the level crossing on Bartholomew Street in Brockville.
Sabrina Latimer died instantly, but the impact threw Samantha aside, breaking her right arm, ripping nerves in her neck, arm and hand, causing a blood clot to form in her spinal column.
The young girl faces the prospect of partial paralysis in one hand.
But despite his daughter's severe injuries, Lefebvre knows his family was lucky.
"They say when a train hits, you're either sucked under or thrown and Samantha was thrown," Lefebvre said. "If they'd been walking side-by-side, we would have lost them both.
"Samantha was about a step behind Sabrina. It happened so fast, (Sabrina) was there, then she was gone," he said.
Lefebvre was working at his job at Nitrochem when he got a call February 17 saying simply that his daughter had been struck by a train.
No other details were provided over the phone, and he feared the worst. He rushed to the accident scene near Commonwealth Public School and police initially wouldn't allow him inside their barricades. He was frantic with worry as he waited, hearing from others that a girl had been killed.
Finally, a policeman came to explain that his daughter was one of two girls struck, but she had survived the impact.
His daughter was hurt, but another girl was dead, and Lefebvre's concern switched to the Latimer family for their loss.
"I know what we're going through now and (the Latimer family) just has to be going through such a great deal more. My heart goes out to that family," he said.
Samantha doesn't want to talk about the accident, and who can blame her. She's been talking for days - to family, to police detectives, to federal transportation investigators - and it has kept fresh the trauma of seeing her friend die.
She just wants to rest and recuperate from her injuries and, for now, to be alone with her thoughts.
But her family has a message on her behalf to the community: Thank you so much.
A corner of the living room in the Lefebvre's Bisley Crescent home is chock full of teddy bears, tokens, artwork and bags of letters from people expressing sympathy for Samantha's ordeal.
Samantha's mother Tina Lefebvre said she's been amazed by how the community has rallied to support the family in wake of the accident.
"I just want to express my gratitude to the community and everyone who has supported us," Tina Lefebvre said. "I can't possibly thank everyone. I've always grown up in smaller communities, so when there is something like this, people pull together and it's nice they do that.
"People have been concerned for Samantha," she says. "They're saying, if there's anything we can do just let us know. People have been praying for us, they say they haven't stopped praying.
"I believe in God and miracles," she said. "You have to believe in miracles, because of what happened to Samantha."