Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Oct 31, 2025

A paramedic fought to save a crash victim, not knowing it was her daughter

A paramedic fought to save a crash victim, not knowing it was her daughter

Paramedic Jayme Erickson spent more than 20 minutes trying to save a seriously injured crash victim. At the time, Erickson did not realize the person she was treating was her 17-year-old daughter. “My worst nightmare as a paramedic has come true.“
Paramedic Jayme Erickson spent more than 20 minutes trying to save a seriously injured crash victim. At the time, the Canadian paramedic did not realize the person she was treating was her 17-year-old daughter — whom she had not recognized because of the severity of her injuries, and who would die a few days later.

“My worst nightmare as a paramedic has come true,” Erickson wrote, documenting the details of the 15 Nov. collision that killed her only child.

As an emergency responder, Erickson was the first to arrive at the scene of a serious car crash in rural Airdrie, Alberta, where she and her colleague found two teenagers, driving home from a dog walk, had been injured after their vehicle collided with a truck.

The passenger was trapped, critically injured and needed to be extracted from the vehicle by fire services, Erickson recounted. As the crew worked to remove them and fly them to a nearby hospital, Erickson stayed inside the vehicle, by the patient’s side, for more than 20 minutes, tending to her, making sure her airway was clear and doing, she later recalled, “whatever I could.”

After an air ambulance flew the passenger to Calgary’s Foothills Medical Center, Erickson returned home at the end of her shift.

Within minutes the doorbell rang. It was police, informing her that her daughter Montana had been in an accident, so she rushed to the emergency room.

“On entering the room, to her horror, she found the girl who she had sat with in the back of the crumbled vehicle, keeping alive … was Jayme’s own daughter. Jayme unknowingly was keeping her own daughter alive,” fellow paramedic Richard Reed told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

Montana died on Nov. 18, three days after the crash, after doctors told Erickson that Montana’s injuries “were not compatible with life.”

The driver of the car and the passenger of the truck survived, according to local media. Royal Canadian Mounted Police say an investigation into the crash is ongoing.

“The pain I am feeling is like no pain I have ever felt, it is indescribable,” Erickson wrote. “The critically injured patient I had just attended to, was my own flesh and blood. My only child. My mini-me.”

Erickson wrote on social media that while she was “thankful” for 17 years with her daughter she couldn’t help but wonder: “What would you have become, my baby girl? Who would you have been?”

In the wake of Montana’s death, other first responders have highlighted the emotional toll being an emergency worker brings, with many paramedics carrying a fear that they may one day be called out to an incident where a victim is known to them.

Several emergency responders joined Erickson, her husband and Reed, who has been acting as the family’s spokesman, at the news conference Tuesday to show their support. Many were visibly emotional as they spoke to reporters.

“Jayme’s traumatic story is affecting first responders across this country,” paramedic Deana Davison said. “It brings to light once again that this horrific nightmare could happen to any one of us.”

Speaking to reporters after her daughter’s death, Erickson said Tuesday that Montana was “so beautiful.” She said the teenager was listed as an organ donor so her death had given others a chance at life.

“We’re so happy that our baby girl is living on through others and she has in the wake of this tragedy saved other people,” Erickson said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×