A freak accident turned Samuel’s life upside down three and a half years ago, but he remains a positive example for his son.
Three and a half years ago, a freak accident turned Samuel’s entire life upside down.
He had been working long hours and was fatigued. “I woke up to go to the bathroom and I tripped and I hit my head against the wall,” Samuel explained.
The injury to his spinal cord left him tetraplegic, he said.
Aside from maintaining function in his left hand and partial function in his right, Samuel lost all mobility from the chest down. A 25-year career as a head baker came to an abrupt end, and Samuel was left to learn how to navigate life from a wheelchair.
“My wife had to go apartment hunting for a place where I’d be able to get in,” he said.
Given the price of rent in the city and the pair’s limited finances, they were forced to settle on a small apartment that Samuel described as expensive and hardly adapted to his needs.
“It consumes most of the little earnings that we do have,” he said.
Samuel found a job when his long-term disability insurance came to an end, but new health complications set him back over the summer.
“We were just making it,” he said. “So now we’re even more just making it.”
Still, Samuel appears considerably upbeat, which he attributes to his eight-year-old son.
“I tend to tell myself that I have a very strong morale and that I try to just think positive and not let the negative come in,” he said. “You know, not go into those dark ways because … I want (my son) to see that everything is achievable if you try and you work hard at it.”
This year, Samuel will be one of the thousands of Montrealers in need to receive a $125 cheque from the Gazette Christmas Fund. The fund helps make the holidays a little easier for those in tough situations.
Samuel was also recipient of a Christmas Fund cheque last year and “it does help a lot,” he said.
“We still want to do Christmas as well as we can for my son,” Samuel said. “It really made a big difference, as he was able to get a gift … and a bit of food on the table as well.”
Samuel intends to use this year’s cheque for the same purpose.
“A very big thank you to all donors and to whoever puts in toward this fund … it really does make a difference in our lives,” he said.