Manitoba woman turns to TikTok to document car crash recovery

Car crash victim documents recovery on TikTok A Manitoba woman who survived a car crash has turned to TikTok to document her recovery. CTV's Rachel CrowSpreadingWings reports.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba woman has turned to social media to document her miraculous story of recovery, a true testament to the power of living.

Five months ago, Brianna Seewald was returning home after a night shift as a nurse at the hospital in Beausejour, Man., when, according to the RCMP, a truck collided with her.

“I ran my hand over my face to see if I was bleeding and I wasn’t and I looked up at my broken windshield and I just said, ‘Grandpa, please don’t let me die alone in here,’” Seewald said.

At the time of the crash, her fiancé Ryan Borkowski was at work.

“I all of a sudden, looked at my phone, I just felt like should look at my phone,” he said.

“I saw I had a bunch of missed calls and one was from HSC and so I went straight to the hospital.”

The crash that nearly took Seewald’s life took place at the intersection of Highway 220 and Provincial Highway 12, outside of Ste. Anne, Man.

“I broke my neck at (the) C2 (vertebrae), I have a complicated hangman’s fracture with fragmentation of the bone. I broke my back at T11, L1, L2 and then my sacral spine. I broke ribs on my left-hand side. I dissected an artery in my neck,” Seewald explained.

There is also damage to her legs and her nerves

Seewald was worried about what her injuries meant for her future and her relationship with Borkowski.

“I just told him I know this is going to be a lot and it’s okay if you want to leave, I know this is going to be a lot and I think he was a little insulted I said that,” she said.

Borkowski said the thought of leaving never crossed his mind.

“I just want her to be my wife,” he said.

So he proposed in the hospital.

Borkowski learned every aspect of caring for his fiancé as she recovers.

Seewald hopes that by sharing her journey through social media, it can help others.

“In the darkest times, you can be your light, and I know it’s hard to find that sometimes, but you are your own biggest cheerleader and your own best support whether you know that or not, and it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to need help, and I want people to know that as well,” she said.

It could take a few years before Seewald makes a full recovery and gets back to nursing.