Recovering from the Rivière-Éternité landslide

Jean-Philippe Caty has come a long way. A year ago, a short, impromptu stay with his girlfriend in Rivière-Éternité nearly cost him his life. He was seriously injured in a deadly landslide. His partner Pascale Racine died, as did Pascal Héon, a man who has no connection to the couple. Today, the survivor is standing on his two legs in front of the Éternité River, where he waited for help for 90 minutes.

He returned to Bas-Saguenay at the beginning of June where the drama played out. A difficult return, but necessary. He did it in the company of the one who found him and then rescued him, volunteer firefighter Kevin Gagné.

It’s a moment that is quite powerful, to be with the person who saved your life, facing the place where he found you and then took you out with ropes, to be standing with him watching the river on a day when the sun comes out gentlytestifies Jean-Philippe Caty.

He doesn’t plan to return to Rivière-Éternité anytime soon.

The longest year of his life

Jean-Philippe meets us in a park on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River near Quebec City, where he lives. He is smiling broadly. However, he has just crossed the longest year of his lifeAfter experiencing horror, life takes on its full meaning.

I’m lucky to still be here. It’s a long journey, it’s a long journey of healing, both physical and psychological. It’s not over yet, it leaves indelible traces.

It’s experiencing an accident, a very serious trauma that I shared with my girlfriend and there was someone else who was on the road. To wake up a few days later in the hospital, to say where is she? Where are they? What happened?he mentions.

Ten operations, 75 days of hospitalization and hundreds of hours of rehabilitation later, he is nearing the end of his physical recovery. He will finally be able to put down his cane in the coming weeks. He is slowly getting back to work. He will have to be patient, but he will be able to resume a normal life. A stroke of good luck in bad luck, he admits.

Jean-Philippe is rebuilding himself alone, without his girlfriend. Despite this heavy loss, he will repeat many times, during the interview, how lucky he is to be surrounded by his family, his friends and health professionals.

He will bear the marks for the rest of his life, just like the family of Pascale Racine and Pascal Héon.

This is why we are speaking today, there is a duty of memory that must be paid for these people who lost their lives during that sad day.he indicates.

A getaway that turns into tragedy

Residents of the Quebec City sector, Jean-Philippe and Pascale headed towards Rivière-Éternité somewhat by chance and at the last minute. The couple, who were on their first visit, were to camp for three days at the Fjord-du-Saguenay National Park of the Société des establishments de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ). He planned to go hiking during this impromptu romantic getaway.

Intense rain and a storm brewing over the fjord led them to turn around on Saturday morning. On the way back, the precipitation became more and more intense. Alerts announcing severe weather forecasts rang on their cell phones. Water pooled in the trail reaching halfway up their shins.

It was a pretty impressive amount of water. When we got back to the car, we were glad to be safe.

On the road leading them to their camp, the duo came up against a tree that blocked the path. He waited some time before seeing an employee of the SÉPAQ. He came to clear the road. At the same time, another vehicle stopped behind them. The driver got out to help. The duo did the same.

We thought it was so easy to release that the car stayed running.

It was while trying to move the tree that the group realized that it was most likely coming from the top of the mountain. The dense vegetation prevented us from having a clear picture of what could have happened.

Then, a dull noise echoed through the forest.

The person on the other side of the tree screamed. We just had time to run away, only to be caught up in a tsunami of mud and debris that propelled us off the roadway.

The landslide threw his partner and the other motorist into the river. The guardrail saved Jean-Philippe’s life, but not without causing him serious injuries.

I fell over, that’s when my legs broke on impact.

90 minutes to hang on

Sitting in the river, Jean-Philippe looked up at the sky, trying to understand what had just happened. The road and the guardrail were above him.

For 90 minutes, 5400 long seconds, Jean-Philippe clung to branches to avoid being swept away by the current. He also clung to life.

The only thing that kept me alive was my children. Telling myself that this wasn’t where life was going to end, that it wasn’t true that it was going to get me, that I was going to disappear.

While waiting to be rescued, Jean-Philippe lay in the cold water of the river. Although he initially screamed intensely for help, he quickly understood that he would have to conserve his energy. He suspected that the impact on his legs was major.

He held on as best he could as trees, rocks and debris flew past him. He only wanted one thing, for the rain to stop so that the river level would stop rising.

I had the impression that I was going to be buried, that I was going to go into the current, that I was going to receive a piece of debrishe continues.

Jean-Philippe Caty finally heard the voice of a volunteer firefighter saying: Don’t move, we’re here.

I lifted my head. Between the road and the guardrail where I was looking at the sky, I saw someone arriving with his rescue helmet. It was Kevin.

No Kevin, no Jean-Philippe. That’s the truth. And his partner too who was there with him. Kevin, he’s the one who got me out of there. He went down into the river to put the ropes to be able to pull me out. He himself risked his life to save mine. It’s something to have the courage like no one else to do that.

Jean-Philippe Caty thought he would quickly be out of trouble. He had no idea of ​​the territory around him. He believed the rescue would end the moment he returned to the roadway. The four-kilometre journey to the ambulance that awaited them in the heart of the municipality looked hazardous. The road was demolished and blocked in several places.

He remembers a very bumpy road. Kevin had to keep me alive, keep me awake. The danger is falling asleep so you don’t wake up.

Jean-Philippe was far from being at the end of his troubles. An hour’s drive still separated him from the Chicoutimi hospital.

He suffered from very serious traumatic injuries, had lost a lot of blood and was severely hypothermic. The time spent in the water had infected his many wounds.

Reclaim your history

A few days after the accident, Jean-Philippe became interested in what had been written and said by the media. He gathered as much information as possible to piece together the pieces of his own story.

There were 82 landslide sites. I still know the details well because I tried to understand them, he says. In order to heal, I needed to be able to visualize what I had been through.

He also felt the need to be in contact with the one who saved him. It was to be able to classify certain things at the level of the accident, to be able to progresshe explains.

Jean-Philippe talks about everyone who kept him alive, but very little about himself, about what got him through the last year.

You never know how you’re going to react to situations like this. There’s no way anyone can activate this survival function. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I’ve had to activate it, and it seems to work well.

On a few occasions, the speakers wondered if he would survive. About ten days after the accident, he himself asked a specialist doctor if he had survived.

Surviving the tragedy was sometimes even difficult.

You find yourself in a place. There are three people. One survives and two die. In no way should you try to understand. There is nothing to understand. It is a stroke of fate.

The sun after the storm

Jean-Philippe was supposed to go on a three-day getaway. He finally returned home 75 days later.

I missed a season. I left at the beginning of the summer and came back in the fall. When I returned home, it was not a game won. Ten operations, the wheelchair, eight months on crutches. I’ve only recently been on my feet, it’s been a lot of work to get there.

Except for the cane that helps him move, nothing reveals what Jean-Philippe has experienced. But life will never be the same again.

Time is already doing its work. During his recovery, a counselor had told Jean-Philippe that trials like he experienced leave a poorly wrapped gift. Today he understands the meaning of it. He did not go through this ordeal in vain.

Savoring the moment makes more sense than ever for someone who will be blowing out 43 candles later this summer.

Jean-Philippe Caty has a thought for those who lost a loved one in this tragedy.

There is a sequel, there is a reason why we are here. I want to continue, to honor the memory of those who have passed away. I am still lucky to be here, so you can be sure that I will take full advantage of it.he concluded.

Jean-Philippe Caty’s summer will be marked by his recovery, but above all by a vacation planned with his three daughters. A season he does not intend to miss this time.