A tree hanging close to the ceiling, warm colors and a young teenager on his tablet. In Sonia's house, the atmosphere of Christmas and raclette floats. A classic setting where only his slight limp suggests the physical ordeals he went through. On July 24, 2024, “on a really ordinary day”she was driving when she violently hit an electrical pole while she had just left her home a kilometer away. “My last memory is when I enter the address where I have to go into my GPS. »
As for the causes of the accident, she only has suppositions, made from the various testimonies she may have had. “Doctors say the brain may have shut down everything due to the pain,” she reports. That day, in addition to the impact against the pole, the car overturning, there was also an electric wire which touched the vehicle. “I guess I must have been against the door and there was an electric arc. » Sonia still doubts her memory so she scrupulously checks the information she has collected, over the months, in a red notebook and a “mental map” drawn on an A3 sheet.
Sonia, for unknown reasons, lost control of her car and hit an electrical pole. A fire broke out around the car.
© Photo NR, Aziliz Le Berre
Sonia is taken care of by the firefighters and the Samu. She has numerous fractures to her chest, ribs, ankle and a third-degree burn on her left arm. “This pain doesn’t exist in textbooks”she comments. The only concession on the optimism from which his speech is borrowed. “I was very lucky”she keeps repeating.
“Today I’m cooler, I had no choice”
And yet, his hospitalization journey did not end until the end of October 2024. “I spent a week in intensive care, then two weeks in pulmonology and then direction… the physical medicine and rehabilitation department in Issoudun, for three months. » A stay that she did not envisage as long. “For me, at the start of the school year, I came back to work, without problem! » she still remembers. Contractual in a specialized educational establishment, she was back on her feet in less than three weeks, even though she was still in a wheelchair. “This rehabilitation service, really, we cry when we arrive and when we leave”she summarizes.
In the hospital corridors, “I was in an armchair then leaning on a cane then in boots, every time I left my room, seeing other situations, I told myself that I was lucky”. Even if the treatments, especially those concerning his burn, are difficult and painful. She maintains her recognition of the action of the Archi association which allowed her to attend Paralympic events. “I promised them, I came back to make pancakes and waffles for their Christmas market, it was the least I could do. »
“Everything can change in a second”
Her view has evolved on disability, which is obvious to her. Strong friendships were formed, to the point that she invited two of her friends who are still in care in the hospital department to her home. “Today, I am cooler, less demandingshe confides. Before, I wanted everything to be planned to the millimeter, as a single mother, for everything to be perfect, impeccable with my son. There, I had no choice. »
She had to change her middle school boy to a private establishment, the only one to accommodate interns while she was still hospitalized. “This accident really had an impact on everyone, including my family. » Her son was able to be welcomed every weekend and a friend helped him out with a car, essential where she lives. “We all know that everything can change in a second but until we experience it, it’s not true”she knows now.
« The time softens everything »explains Voltaire in The Ingenu. A maxim that comes true for Sonia who is gradually regaining her bearings in her home. “I left for the harvest, came back when there were no more leaves, it wasn't so easy. » And the wound on his arm requires two more years of treatment, at least.
Sonia is still looking for the third man who helped her on July 24, 2024 (read below). To contact her, contact the town hall of La Champenoise at 02.54.35.69.00 or La Nouvelle République at 06.88.21.51.93, who will transmit.
Looking for one of his rescuers
This July day, as a result of the accident, a fire broke out in the stubble around the vehicle. “My neighbor came, he went back to get a jack to try to pull the vehicle. There was also a farmer who intervened with his harrow to prevent the fire from spreading and a third man, who returned to the restaurant to get a fire extinguisher. » It was his intervention that prevented the fire from spreading to the car while it was still inside.
The three men extract him from the vehicle before help arrives. She was able to thank the first two but the last protagonist remains unknown for the moment. This third man returned to the La Champenoise restaurant shortly after the accident but his contact details were lost. “I would really like to find him, to thank him, Sonia explains simply. I owe him a lot. » She has already tried to call via social networks and hopes to be able to get back in touch.
