Benjamin Fortin has no memory of the day of the tragedy. At the end of the day he left the workshop where he worked as a mechanic in Rivière-du-Loup. I remember getting in my car, but for the rest… Nothing more‘ he summarizes.

It was the emergency services and several on-site witnesses who told him what had happened to him. On the way, his vehicle skidded and caught fire. The Cacounois remained unconscious.

The memories I have are from a month after the accident, he adds. Immediately after the accident, he was hospitalized in the Enfant-Jésus in Quebec. When he wakes up, he learns that he is suffering from severe head trauma.

Impossible to return to normal

Benjamin Fortin has neurological and physiological disorders.

Memory loss, severe fatigue, as well as the lack of speed and responsiveness seriously hamper the mechanic. He remembers : I managed to work efficiently 24 hours a week, but I was in bed for three days.

After tests at the Rivière-du-Loup rehabilitation center, the ax falls: he will never again be able to practice the profession of mechanic and technical consultant that fascinates him.

” Being told at 30 that my professional life would be over forever didn’t fit in my head. »

The Cacounois acknowledges that his career has been difficult for his mental health. However, people do not renounce resilience. One should never give up, reminds Benjamin Fortin. It is not because we have a disability that we should stop fighting for a good quality of life.

Benjamin Fortin continues to work on reducing the consequences of the accident and adapting his everyday life so that he can save as much energy as possible. However, he acknowledges that sometimes it’s difficult to live with a disability that doesn’t seem to exist.

share experience

Benjamin Fortin now wants to meet other people who have gone through a similar ordeal. I remember a woman who explained to me that after 20 years she had understood that it was not about being able to do everything, but about adapting her life to this disability.says the woman in her mid-thirties.

He organizes a conference entitled Surviving severe head trauma : My journey of resilience. It will take place this Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Émile-Nelligan Library in Cacouna.

According to information from Xavier the cross