It is absolutely terrifying how accidents can happen in a blink of an eye.
One moment all is well and happy, then in the next, your world gets flipped upside down and may never be the same again.
Such is the case for Kayla Rudichuk and her two-year-old daughter Jaclyn Derks from Alberta, Canada.
Late last month, Rudichuk, the mother of two, had left her children under the care of their grandparents to do some grocery shopping.
The last thing she had heard from them was that her daughters were building a pillow fort.
Then came the call from Rudichuk’s mother that would change her life permanently. Her youngest daughter was being rushed to the hospital.
Dropping everything, she raced to the hospital to be with Jaclyn.
There, she was greeted with the most heartwrenching scene a parent could ever possibly experience – her hapless toddler surrounded by emergency workers, bawling in panic and fear as she bled profusely.
Helpless, Rudichuk could only cry at the sight.
Perhaps the most horrifying thing was that this accident wasn’t because of anything she did wrong as a mother – it had happened purely out of chance.
There was nothing she could have done to prevent it.
While playing, Jaclyn had placed down her hand in “the wrong place at the wrong time” and fell onto a drinking glass that was on the floor.
The drinking utensil broke and the glass was driven deep into her neck, partially severing her spinal cord.
It was unclear if the girl would survive, and all Rudichuk could do was wait for the glass to be removed and her daughter to undergo surgery.
Thankfully, her daughter has survived.
Jaclyn, however, may never be able to go back to running and jumping like she used to.
After her surgery, the toddler now must undergo rigorous physical therapy twice a day to repair the damage done to her body.
The girl, a little trooper, is aware that she is “sick”, and in spite of all that has happened to her remains in high spirits.
While Jaclyn’s positive attitude is reassuring for Rudichuk, the mother is still wrestling with her emotions regarding the ramifications of this diagnosis.
With her toddler struggling to even move her left hand, Rudichuk is worried that her daughter may never be able to walk unassisted again.
Her daughter may be permanently disabled for the rest of her life.
With an injury so rare doctors have only one other case from Turkey they can compare Jaclyn’s injury to, there isn’t anything that they can do to speed up the toddler’s very slow recovery.
Today, the girl still relies on braces to walk, and a future where she regains full control of her legs is dim.
In the meantime, a close family friend has set up a GoFundMe campaign to cover the cost of the toddler’s treatment.
Thanks to the kindness of strangers, the campaign has received $28,590 of its original $1,000 goal in a single month.
