Sudbury man makes remarkable progress following devastating workplace injury
It’s been a scary couple of weeks for Cameron Stone and his family, but the Sudbury man says he's firmly on the road to recovery.
On June 6, Stone was seriously injured while working in the city's Flour Mill area. A lift he was working on collapsed, leaving him with 10 broken ribs, a major neck injury, staples in his head and a shattered pelvis and hip.
"At first it wasn’t looking good," Stone told CTV News in an interview Tuesday.
"Now that things are healing and progressing, I can’t be any happier than that," he said, sitting in a wheelchair outside Health Sciences North and enjoying the fresh air.
It turned out that the piece of heavy equipment he was using hit a sinkhole, causing the catastrophe.
"When I was on the lift, my one wheel fell through and brought me down with it," Stone said.
"I was harnessed and everything so I couldn’t go anywhere. I was stuck."
Things get hazy after that, he said, describing moments after the accident as a "blackout."
"I don’t remember any of it."
But his mom, Line Stone, said she remembers it all, beginning with the dreaded call telling her she needed to go to the hospital.
"Nobody likes that phone call, right?" Line said.
"You get that phone call saying that, 'you need to get to the hospital -- we don’t know if your son’s going to make it.' So that was very, very hard, of course … He was in a coma for the first week and after that he had pneumonia and he had a fever with it. They had to put him in a coma at night still.”
What wasn't yet clear was the extent of the head injuries – and how much they would affect Cameron once he woke up. So it was a relief when he woke up and everything seemed fine.
On June 6, Cameron Stone was seriously injured while working in the city's Flour Mill. A lift he was working on collapsed, leaving him with 10 broken ribs, a major neck injury, staples in his head and a shattered pelvis and hip. (Photo courtesy of Line Stone)
"It was Cameron, so we were very fortunate," Line said.
"Somebody was looking out for him. With all his injuries, his brain was OK."
An online fundraiser for the family set a target of $10,000, but raised more than $24,000.
"Just when you think the world is going crazy, you get this group of people that just come together and offer support," said Line.
"Complete strangers and it was just fantastic."
With the financial help and her son well on the road to recovery, Line said she can relax after a difficult month.
"You don’t know how much it means to have that support until you’re in this situation," she said. "Now I can sleep at night."
"We get these messages, right, from everybody, people dropping off money, dropping off food, everybody supporting us all the way from Ottawa, Toronto – everybody," she added.
For his part, Stone wants to thank everyone -- from his team at the hospital, to his family, to the community.
"Obviously, thank the doctors and the nurses because they’re amazing here," he said.
"Mom and dad have been staying overnight helping me out, for the first bit anyways, not so much now, because I am getting better. I also have my little girl over there keeping me motivated and my wife coming to visit me -- so I can’t beat that either."
His daughter is now three months old and the family joked they are learning things together now, including how to sit up on their own.
Cameron hopes to get out of the hospital by the end of the month, but an exact date hasn’t been set yet.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Freeland previews omnibus budget bill, proposed capital gains tax change left out
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation is the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
McGill requests 'police assistance' over pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University says it has 'requested police assistance' about the pro-Palestinian encampment on its lower field.
Judge raises threat of jail in hush money trial as he holds Trump in contempt, fines him US$9,000
Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined US$9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. And if he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed.
Court upholds Milwaukee police officer's firing for posting racist memes after Sterling Brown arrest
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a former Milwaukee police officer was properly fired for posting racist memes related to the arrest of an NBA player that triggered a public outcry.
Video captures deadly wrong-way police chase on Highway 401 in Ontario
A new video has surfaced showing a vehicle being pursued by police in the wrong direction on Highway 401 moments prior to a fatal crash that killed four people, including an infant and their grandparents.
New cancer treatment approved, but not everyone thinks it's what's best for patients
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.