Summer jobs are a rite of passage for high school and university students. We usually worry about finding work, take what we can get and wait out the few months until we head back to school and our “real” lives. But my summer job changed my whole life in just one moment. In one way it was the most terrible experience of my life but it has also enabled me to pursue a new passion—working with Passport to Safety to ensure a safe work environment for young people.

After my first year at university, I began a summer job at the local paper mill. Before I went to work I spent a week in a classroom, watching videos, reading pamphlets and discussing safety issues, I then entered the work area for on-the-job training.

This routine continued every summer for the three years I worked at the mill.

My job was to pick up any slabs of paper that fell on the floor and to keep the work area clean. It was a day like any other when I took an often-used short cut that would result in a much longer journey of another kind.

I was out working around the floor when I crossed over a conveyor belt system that ran throughout the mill. It was a shortcut used regularly by supervisors, other employees and even tour groups. No one thought twice about it; if it were dangerous, it would have been pointed out, or so I thought.

As I crossed over the belt I put my foot down at exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. My left foot was caught at the point where the belt system collided. I fell to the ground, landing on the belt. The conveyor was moving, pulling me in further and further.

My screams echoed above the mill noise. There was no automatic emergency stop system on the conveyor. A co-worker rushed over and stopped the belt, saving my life. But I was still trapped in the machine, my foot hauled into a hole so small a highlighter marker couldn't have fit in.

A maintenance crew arrived to disassemble the system and free my leg. For 25 minutes I lay on the ground, my friends and co-workers huddled around just staring at me. Finally I was freed and rushed away in an ambulance, still conscious and still in excruciating pain.

I awoke the next morning in the hospital, my left foot invisible beneath a mound of bandages. The seriousness of the situation set in when they transported me to a larger hospital about an hour away. I sat in my private room, waiting for a doctor to come and look at me.

When he arrived, the doctor wanted to know if I could feel pressure on my foot. I closed my eyes, wincing in pain and pretending I could feel where he was touching me. He let me go on, finally asking me to open my eyes. It was then I realized his hands hadn't been anywhere near my injured leg. I was busted. Soon the truth came across loud and clear—the lower part of my left leg was beyond repair. Amputation was the only option.
I wasn't totally devastated by the news. I decided to focus on what I had left, not on what I had lost. I decided then and there I wouldn't waste my time and energy wondering why me, wishing for a different outcome, or worrying about things I couldn't control. I had to focus on the things I had the power to change instead of dwelling on things I couldn't.
The operation went ahead and my left leg was amputated below the knee. The pain I experienced leaving the operating room was even worse than being caught in the belt. It took almost a full day before it started to slowly subside.

The first week after the operation was rough; I experienced a lot of phantom pain and was still adjusting to life without my leg. As the pain became more tolerable, eventually shifting to more of a sensation than an actual pain, I began to get out and take on regular activities. Two months after the injury I got my first prosthetic leg and began physiotherapy. One week later I was walking on my own, ready to start another phase of my life.

Each day is a gift to be treasured. Almost losing my life made me realize that there is no better time than today to do the things you want to do; tomorrow doesn't come for everyone. Seven months after the injury I travelled to Mexico to take a month-long anthropology course. Then I backpacked through Europe before returning to Fredericton to complete my degree in psychology. Now I'm helping others avoid injuries like mine by working with Passport to Safety.

I never think of what my life could have been like if I didn't lose my foot. Everything that has happened since that day has been positive. Now I'm living a life full of meaning and using my experience to spread the message of the importance of workplace health and safety.

I think there is a reason for everything that happens. Sometimes we don't always know what it is, but I think I was meant to work with Passport to Safety. People need to realize that even with all the safety training that happens, thousands of young people are injured and even killed in the workplace each year. Employers, parents, students and fulltime employees need to come together to make this change.

Working with Passport to Safety, I know I'm making a difference. I'm helping create a world where workplace injuries like mine don't happen. Ever. It's up to you to help me make that dream come true.

Candace Carnahan is a spokesperson for Passport to Safety.

Reprinted with the permission of Passport to Safety, a unique, not-for-profit, cross-Canada catalyst for change intended to help eliminate needless injuries and preventable deaths of young Canadians aged 24 and under.