Setting out for a routine drive to the Okanagan for a medical appointment on Feb. 16, Suzie Petterson’s vehicle hit a patch of black ice causing it to crash. She was flown by air ambulance to Kamloops where Petterson is being treated for severe injuries that could take months to recover from.
“I was able to recover from the first patch of black ice but then I hit another which caused the car to start spinning. I hit the ditch, took out lots of trees, hit a telephone pole hard, and spun around that when the vehicle finally came to a stop upside down,” she explained from her hospital bed at the Royal Inland Hospital.
The vehicle Petterson was driving careened approximately 50 feet down an embankment, up which she made her way to wait for someone to pass by. Twenty minutes later, Dave Weatherhead did. He was first on scene but Petterson had a list of people who came to her rescue — Judy from J&S Snacks, some BC Hydro guys and another lady from Edgewood whose name Petterson didn’t know.
Petterson is in the ICU Kamloops with six broken ribs, a bleeding spleen, two broken vertebrae and a torn vein in her neck. She feels lucky to be alive.
Petterson was treated for a head laceration at the Arrow Lakes Hospital and then transferred to Kamloops because they couldn’t land in Kelowna. Search and rescue and an ambulance were dispatched to collect Petterson and the car. She will be there indefinitely. Petterson has two children in school and a husband who works and goes to school too. Her family and friends are offering support by visiting her in hospital and preparing food for the family while she is gone.