Crash victim a lifesaver?

“I think I saved those guys’ lives.”

It’s not something you would expect to hear from someone who’s car had just been demolished by a drunk driver, but that was one of the first things Chris Keskeny said to his wife shortly after the collision that almost cost him his life.

It was Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 and Chris was travelling north on Furnival Road shortly before 6 p.m. when a supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix GTP ran a stop sign at Marsh Line and slammed into the passenger side of his car, sending it rolling into a cornfield.

The driver, a 25-year-old St. Thomas man, was later convicted of a variety of charges, including impaired driving. It was discovered his driver’s license was under suspension for a previous impaired conviction. He has since been banned for driving for life.

The driver was injured but attempted to flee the scene.

“One of my friends who arrived on scene brought him back after he tried to get away through a corn field even though he was covered in blood,” Chris said.

Chris came to his senses in the midst of the field, his driver’s side door jammed into the dirt. He initially tried to refuse medical attention.

“I just wanted to go home to supper,” he said. “I didn’t realize how badly I was hurt.”

He was taken by ambulance to Four Counties Hospital in Newberry and later transferred to London where an examination showed three cracked ribs and three broken vertebrae in his lower back.

“I had blood in my urine and a bruised liver,” he said.

He shared his ambulance ride with the passenger of the vehicle that hit him.

“He told me he was really sorry and that the driver was just giving him a lift.  He said he was terrified at the speed they were going. He said he had leaned over and looked at the speedometer that showed 140 kilometers per hour. Then they hit me.”

Chris’ wife met him at the hospital where he was conscious and speaking about the incident.

“When I told her I’d saved their lives, she gave me a look, but it’s true,” he said. “Their car was going nearly 90 miles per hour and just past where they hit me the road turned to gravel with a deep drop. There is no way an impaired driver can hit gravel at that speed and not crash.”

Although the crash was over, its effects were just beginning for the sales consultant at Blenheim Chevrolet Buick GMC.

“I was due to take the following week off on vacation and I remember telling work that I’d be back after that,” he said. “I also told them that we didn’t have to worry about selling the car I was driving.”

It would be nearly three years before he would return full time. Even as his physical injuries began to heal, Chris found himself exhausted and dealing with severe headaches.

By the following February, it was confirmed he had suffered a brain injury caused by the impact of his brain slamming into his skull.

“I was referred to the Brain Injury Clinic at Parkwood (hospital) in London but they’re so backed up it took 10 months to get in,” he said.

In June and October of last year, he received Botox injections into his head that finally resulted in a decrease in severity and frequency of headaches.

“I still need a lot more sleep than I used to. I tire more easily and I can only sleep on my left side. Some of that was due to my body being in repair but some effects will always be with me,” he said.

Chris returned to work this spring and came back full time in June. He sold the most cars at the dealership his first month back, but modestly said, “It was only by one car.

“Even though I missed work, what I really missed was the people,” he said. “Everyone has been so good to me, asking me how I’m doing and how glad they are to see me.”

He had praise for Jason Heuvelmans, dealer principal of the operation.

“Not everyone would do what he did,” he said. “My job was waiting for me when I got back. It meant so much that I would be able to get back to doing what I loved.”

Although always a positive person, Chris said the accident changed his outlook. Although a past gold sales marketing guild member (signifying he is among the top 3% of GM’s sales force), he knows there’s more to life.

“I understand how life can change in an instant and I take the time to enjoy it. My priorities have changed,” he said.

Even though life presented him with challenges, Chris is taking some positive things from it.

The vehicle he was in, a 2009 Pontiac Vibe, had been taken in by the dealership on a trade shortly before. “I usually take the trades home for a drive to get a feel for them and make sure everything’s OK. That’s what I was doing.”

Fortunately, the previous owner’s OnStar emergency system was still functioning.

“The car had barely finished rolling over before OnStar came on reporting that the system had noted a rollover and asking if there was anyone inside.”

Chris said only about one third of OnStar systems are retained by their owners after the initial period.

“If this had happened late at night or in a more remote area, who knows how long I might have been there.”

He said he believes the system should remain active for the duration of the initial purchasers’ ownership and has contacted General Motors about it.

He’s also grateful for some unexplained things around the time of his accident.

“The day of the accident was beautiful and I asked my wife if she wanted to go with me for a quick drive along the lake while I delivered some parts. She said no that she had just started dinner,” Chris said. “For some reason when I left home, the thought jumped into my head that ‘why would I want to hurt her?’ It made no sense until after the accident. The other car hit me right where she would have been sitting. She wouldn’t have lived.”

He said he had also been preoccupied in the days leading up to his accident with thoughts of a fatality that had happened in close proximity a year before.

“I think in some way there was a message in my thoughts” he said. “I know that I certainly trust my gut more than I ever have.”