It started out as a special Sunday last month for Robyn Rhea.
She and her partner were planning to celebrate the start of Rhea’s new life-coaching business — and the signing of her first client of the year. The plan was to take their dogs for a walk, then get takeout for dinner.
“I thought it was going to be a lot more of a positive day than it was,” she said.
But that changed when Rhea was taking an afternoon shower and happened to notice a mirror that had been leaning against the wall was falling toward one of the dogs, a five-month-old puppy named Petey. She jumped out of the shower — then slipped on the floor and crashed into the mirror.
Petey was out of harm’s way, but the 29-year-old’s right leg was seriously lacerated.
“My partner describes it as a baseball slide into the mirror,” she said. “I felt blood trickling down. I didn’t feel the actual laceration.”
One look at the leg, though, and it was clear she had to go to the hospital. The muscle on her shin was cut right to the bone.
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, to say the least,” Rhea said.
She said the treatment she would receive — first at Lady Minto Hospital on Salt Spring Island and then Victoria General Hospital — was outstanding, which inspired her to go public with her experience and urge people to support the ongoing $10-million Emerge Stronger Campaign, established by the Victoria Hospitals Foundation to raise money for over 200 pieces of much-needed equipment.
She was treated in the emergency department with an electrosurgical unit, which uses high-frequency electric current for a range of treatments on damaged tissue — and to control bleeding, as in Rhea’s case. A new $80,000 electrosurgical unit is among the items planned for purchase through the campaign.
Rhea said she was in shock for some time after the accident. “It felt like a strange dream.”
After the trip to Lady Minto, Rhea was transported to Victoria General by ambulance. A helicopter transfer wasn’t possible due to wind.
“I was oddly excited to go in a helicopter,” said Rhea, who has done her best to keep up her spirits and optimism.
She had hoped to be sent from Victoria to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, near her family, but was told the trauma was too severe for the move. That drove home the seriousness of the situation.
“I had honestly thought that I would just go the hospital and get a few stitches and come home.”
The reality was that she was facing 12 weeks of healing.
Rhea praised all of the hospital staff she has encountered. “Everyone is just so kind and comforting, and they kept calling me a hero because I saved the mirror from smashing on the puppy,” she said. “For the traumatic experience that it was, I think it was made a lot more positive because everyone was just so great.”
Rhea said she hopes to start physiotherapy soon and to start hiking again in the spring and summer with the dogs on Salt Spring, where she has lived since September 2020 after a move from Nanaimo.
She said she is taking what happened as “a blessing in disguise” and using some of her down time to take online courses.
Rhea said it’s tough not being as active as she usually is. The accident has driven home how quickly things can happen and how much people can take things for granted, she said.
She said she is interested in maybe running a race later this year to support Emerge Stronger — “any way that I can pay it forward and I can help spread awareness.”
To donate to Emerge Stronger, go to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation website or call 250-519-1750.
