Shane Bennett didn't have a very good Easter weekend despite that fact that got to ride in a helicopter and a speeding ambulance.
The 11-year-old Squamish resident doesn't remember much about the day he became entangled in a rope swing and fell unconscious. Once he lost consciousness his body started shutting down. His heart stopped and as reported last week in The Chief, it was the fast actions of a number of people that saved Shane's life.
After being released from Children's Hospital in Vancouver Saturday (April 17) Shane was fully recovered and willing to talk about his ordeal.
On Tuesday, he stayed out of school after finding he was too tired to last any longer than half a day at school the previous day. He spent the day with his mother, Kathy.
One of the highlights of the day for the pair was when they got to take part in a dirt-moving ceremony at the site of the Mashiter Bridge construction for the Sea to Sky University project, Kathy's employer. She and Shane were encouraged to be at the ceremony so Shane could have his picture taken standing on an excavator wearing a construction hard hat.
Shane said he remembers things that happened before his accident and his memory of things after he awoke days later are intact.
He has no visible signs of being permanently affected by his brush with death. He had little to say about the incident.
"They're cutting it down," he said of the rope that became wrapped around his neck. Shane remembers playing with the swing in the front yard of his friend's house. Originally, there was a tire on the rope however Shane said the tire came off.
It isn't clear just how Shane became tangled in the rope. According to his mother, once Shane's young friend realized there was a problem he set into motion the series of events that saved Shane's life.
According to Kathy, a nurse and B.C. ambulance paramedics revived Shane at the scene on Ayr Drive. She said he had a short stay at Squamish General Hospital until the air ambulance arrived. "The care at Squamish General Hospital was excellent," Kathy said. "Everybody at Children's said the care he got in Squamish was excellent."
After a few days in hospital he was released in time to participate in the soccer award ceremony at Centennial Fields on Saturday. He had to be at the event and was given special recognition by MC Katrina Doherty when his under-12 team was called to accept medals. "We won the district title and we all got medals," Shane said.
Other than feeling a little tired, Shane said he was feeling good and is ready for the baseball season that starts in a week.
