Even though he is brain injured, Dave Ward (right) was able to help save Rajinder Dhoot when he was having a heart attack last month.

By Wanda McConnell
The Times, Manitoba

As someone with a brain injury, Dave Ward can barely read or write and struggles to connect the words in his head with his ability to say them.

But when it mattered most, the 42-year-old found the right words to save another man's life. It was a cold morning last month when Handi-Transit driver Rajinder Dhoot picked up Ward from his Valley Gardens home.

They had not got far when Dhoot, suddenly blinded by pain, told Ward he thought he was having a heart attack. Seconds later the vehicle swerved into a snow bank.

Dhoot lost consciousness, then came to and gave Ward his cell phone to call for help. And at that moment, all the pieces miraculously came together: Ward, using the unfamiliar cell phone, told the 911 operator the situation and was even able to give the car's location. Paramedics were there in minutes.

"I did it, and I did it right,"said Ward, repeating a phrase he uses when, in a life filled with daily frustrations, he achieves success, however small.

But this was no small achievement. "He saved my life,"says Dhoot, 62, who was rushed to Concordia Hospital and later underwent angioplasty to unblock arteries in his heart.

"He was quite nervous, but he did a good job and I'm here today because of it."

Perhaps it was payback time for Dhoot. Only a month earlier he had gone to pick up a passenger in St. Vital and discovered the man, who has diabetes and a heart condition, unconscious on the front doorstep.

Dhoot splashed snow in the man's face and he came to. Dhoot took him to the emergency department at St. Boniface Hospital. "I saved someone's life and then someone saved mine,"says Dhoot.

Ward was 14 when he suffered a head injury and severe burns in a car accident. He lives with his parents and because of his cognitive learning problems, relies on them to help him with his daily needs. He is in a wheelchair because he has limited use of his right arm and leg.

He has aphasia, which causes his communication problems. Until recently, he couldn't read or write.

Shirley Ward, Dave's mother, believes there is another small miracle connected to this story. It's called a Lingraphica. The Lingraphica is a laptop computer that has helped Ward start to become literate. A week before Dhoot's heart attack, Ward had completed a Workers Compensation Board-sponsored course with the laptop, which helps people with aphasia improve their communication skills.

Allison Baird, a speech therapist who worked with Ward for an hour each week for three months and then gave him homework on the Lingraphica, said brain injured people who must re-learn how to read and write, often hate using a pencil and paper. His mother believes that if Ward had not had an opportunity to use the Lingraphica, which he had to return at the end of the program, he would not have been able to read the street sign the day of the accident, or stay calm and speak well enough to be understood.

"It was certainly instrumental in how David performed. It has given him a lot of self-confidence."Shirley and her husband Derrol are excited about the impact the laptop made on Dave and will soon be equipping him with his own computer.

They're also proud of their son, who can now be hailed as a hero. The couple, who are peer support volunteers with the Brain Injury Association of Manitoba, said they hope their son's story is an inspiration to other parents.

Says Shirley: "When you are told your child will not be able to do anything, it's not the end. It's only the beginning. They can do far more than you ever dreamed. Every brain injury is different, but don't give up.

Click here to see a video story of David Ward




TOP