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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Chiara Fiorillo

Paramedic treats dying teen at crash scene and finds out later it's her own daughter

A paramedic rushed to the scene of a car crash and treated a critically injured passenger without realising it was her 17-year-old daughter.

Jayme Erickson rushed to the incident in Airdrie in Alberta, Canada, on November 15 and found a teenage girl with severe injuries.

She tried to save her for nearly half an hour while firefighters tried to remove the teenager from the vehicle and stayed with the girl until she was airlifted to the hospital.

But due to extent of her injuries, the emergency worker did not recognise that she had been trying to help her own daughter.

Jayme Erickson tried to save her daughter's life after a car crash in Canada (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)

Following the incident, fellow paramedic Richard Reed said Ms Erickson expressed her grief to her partner as she said: "Tonight a family will most likely lose their daughter."

Mr Reed said Montana was travelling with another female when the car lost control and was hit by a truck.

Only when she returned home from her shift and was met by police, Ms Erickson learned she had been treating her daughter and trying to keep her alive after the crash.

She was told that the injuries Montana suffered were "not compatible with life" and the teen was taken off life support.

The paramedic said her life "changed forever" when she learned that she had been treating her severely injured daughter, who tragically died in hospital three days later.

She wrote in a message to family and friends on Facebook : "Minutes after arriving home, my doorbell rang. My life was changed forever. RCMP were at my door to inform me that my daughter had been in an accident.

"The critically injured patient I had just attended to was my own flesh and blood. My only child. My mini-me. My daughter, Montana.

"Her injuries were so horrific I did not even recognise her."I was taken to [Foothills Medical Centre] to see my baby girl and was informed her injuries were not compatible with life."

She added: "I am shattered. I am broken. I am missing a piece of me. I am left to pick up the pieces and expected to carry on."

Ms Erickson, who described the tragedy as her "worst nightmare as a paramedic", said her daughter Montana was "a fighter" and she "fought until the day that she died".

The heartbroken mum said Montana, who was a competitive swimmer, was able to give "one last gift" to people in need, by donating her organs, two of which were lifesaving.

Ms Erickson said: "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.

"We know it's what she would have wanted and we are so proud of her and we're going to miss her very, very much."

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