The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Bridge: Encore Presentation - Special: The Kaleb Dahlgren Story

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

We're looking back at The Bridge in 2021.  Today an encore presentation of The Bridge: Special with an episode that originally aired on March 16th.  The Kaleb Dahlgren Story.

You're tuned in to a special Encore presentation of The Bridge. In this episode, Peter discusses the Humboldt bus tragedy with survivor Caleb Dahlgren. April 7th, 2018. It was a Saturday morning. It was a very early Saturday morning. I was in San Diego, California. I'd flown in the night before from Toronto because I was to give a speech on that Saturday morning in San Diego.

But all the time zones and everything, it got mixed up on time. My body was not into the new time zone. It was still in the old time zone. As a result, I woke up about 4.30 in the morning and I could not fall back to sleep. So I grabbed my phone. And I thought, well, let's see what's happened overnight. And I went on Twitter.

And that's when I found out what had happened the night before near Nipiwin, Saskatchewan. Something that would dominate the news in Canada for days. But it also dominated the news around the world, and there was reaction from around the world. On the Friday night, April 6, at a crossroads, an intersection, just outside of Nipawin, the team bus for the Humboldt Broncos hockey team

collided with a semi-trailer, and the results were devastating. Sixteen people on the bus were killed, many of them players from the Humboldt Broncos team. Thirteen others were injured, seriously injured. Today's special edition of The Bridge is about one of those survivors. His name is Caleb Daldrin, and he's just written a book which is being released right now. It's called Crossroads, right?

And that name on this story has a lot of different levels to it. Caleb's story is remarkable. So is the story of his parents, who had driven from their home in Saskatoon to Nipawin that night to watch the hockey game between Nipawin and Humboldt. It was a playoff game. They were sitting in a little restaurant

in Nipawin, having supper, waiting for the bus to arrive. When all of a sudden outside there were police cars and ambulances racing by. It didn't take long for them to find out what in fact had happened. And they went racing off to the crossroads. Caleb's story is about that moment. It's about his teammates. It's about his family. It's about the incredible frontline healthcare workers, and it's about his future and his determination. As I said, Caleb's a remarkable guy. And when we come back, we're going to hear his story. Hi, I'm Peter Mansbridge, and this is The Bridge on Canada Talks.

April 7th, 2018. It was a Saturday morning. It was a very early Saturday morning. I was in San Diego, California. I'd flown in the night before from Toronto because I was to give a speech on that Saturday morning in San Diego. But all the time zones and everything, it got mixed up on time. My body was not into the new time zone. It was still in the old time zone. As a result, I woke up about 4.30 in the morning,

and I could not fall back to sleep. So I grabbed my phone, and I thought, well, let's see what's happened overnight. And I went on Twitter, and that's when I found out what had happened the night before. happened overnight. And I went on Twitter. And that's when I found out what had happened the night before near Nipawan, Saskatchewan. Something that would

dominate the news in Canada for days. But it also dominated the news around the world. And there was reaction from around the world. On the Friday night, April 6, at a crossroads, an intersection, just outside of Nipawin,

the team bus for the Humboldt Broncos hockey team collided with a semi-trailer and the results were devastating. Sixteen people on the bus were killed, many of them players from the Humboldt Broncos

team. Thirteen others were injured, seriously injured. Today's special edition of The Bridge is about one of those survivors. His name is Caleb Daldrin, and he's just written a book which is being released right now. It's called Crossroads. Right? And that name on this story has a lot of different levels to it. Caleb's story is remarkable.

So is the story of his parents who had driven from their home in Saskatoon to Nipawin that night to watch the hockey game between Nipawin and Humboldt it was a playoff game they were sitting in a little restaurant in Nipawin having supper, waiting for the bus to arrive

when all of a sudden outside there were police cars and ambulances racing by. It didn't take long for them to find out what in fact had happened. And they went racing off to the crossroads. Caleb's story is about that moment it's about his teammates it's about his family it's about the incredible frontline healthcare workers

and it's about his future and his determination as I said Caleb's a remarkable guy. And when we come back, we're going to hear from Caleb himself. He's 23 years old. He's just finishing up a university degree at York University in Toronto. And then he's going to go on to become a chiropractor. That's his dream.

It's been a remarkable last almost three years now. Let's hear Caleb talk about it. How are you doing, first of all? How do you describe your health situation today? Well, I'm doing pretty good, honestly honestly i'm keeping busy in school right now working out staying healthy volunteering virtually which is a little bit different and uh just working hard i guess in the background just staying really healthy though and the only thing really that's bothering me yet or right now is a brain injury the rest is all healed so i'm very grateful and thankful for that. And what does that limit you to, the brain injury?

So, yeah. So the brain injury kind of limits me to, I guess, oh, sorry, my dog is going off here. That's okay. That's all right. I got a dog too. It'll probably start going as well. Oh, sorry. Yeah.

So my brain injury limits me definitely to, I'd say, my reading abilities. Definitely have slowed down my reading. And it's okay. Like I'm able to still read, but it just takes me a little bit longer. So I have an e-reader for that, for academics. And I also get accommodations on my tests for that. But other than that, I mean, like I have to go to bed a decent time every night, try at least like eight to 10 hours of sleep a day,

just so that that way I can at least feel fully functional and at my highest peak. But other than that, I'm pretty thankful that I have no other issues, no headaches, no really major side effects or things that really affect my life. So I'm very grateful. In terms of contact hockey, that's a no-go, right? Yeah, that's a strict no-go. I'm not even cleared really to run, so I can't even go for a jog. So no hockey for me, contact at least.

Well, you look in great shape. So you're obviously doing everything else right to ensure that your body holds up to the demands of life. What are you now? How old are you now? Is your graduating university? So I'm 23 years old, and yeah, so I've been able to ride a bike. I have, I guess, an aero-dne bike where you go on the hands and arms and then you

go with the feet too. And that's a good workout. That one gets me going. And I work late in the summer and I golf. So my golf, I walk. So I really try to stay active as I can and try to be healthy. What's your handicap? Oh boy.

I'm probably plus 10. I'm not the best not the worst plus 10 is okay like don't complain i never got to plus 10 my whole life you know i got as god as i think i got to 14 and i was very proud of that but it's a that was a long time ago but i still love golf it's a great game and any opportunity to get outside and and do some walking is good all right let's talk let's talk crossroads that's the name of the book of course and i gotta tell you when i first picked it up as i would pick up any book you tend to look at the title the author and whatever else may be said on the, on the front cover. But none of those did I look at when I picked up your book, because the picture is so overpowering.

The picture is a view standing at a crossroads and it's not just any crossroads. It's the crossroads. Tell me about what it was like to, to go back there. I don't think it was your first time back there, but any time back there must present a lot of challenges for you. What was it like to go there to take this picture? Because you're standing right in the middle of the crossroads. Yeah, for me, thank you for noticing that. That was one of the things I really wanted was to have the cover speak more than just a thousand words i think if every photo is worth a thousand words but that

one i wanted to be a little bit more and i wanted to have like a million words because there's so many emotions that that wrote across those licks and so when i do go back i it's hard like you definitely get the memory of the people that were lost at that intersection and there's also another family across the street that was lost there too but i also kind of feel a sense of like comfort and fact that i'm there with the 16 where uh all their all of our 29 lives changed but especially those 16 and i feel like a little bit of connection there to be honest it's it's a hard place to go but I also feel connected and I feel a bit of warmth inside of me and how fortunate I am to even be here and to be in the place shape that I'm in and so it's definitely I say

range of motions but the image itself was one that I really wanted and I'm glad that Harper Collins was okay with using that image and why like allowing my idea to come through because I really wanted it to speak more than just a tragedy I want to speak moving forward I want it to speak direction I want to speak positivity I want to speak resilience uh hope and in family even because family they were my family so it's uh it has so many, and I think that's the cool thing about it is somebody could taste something different from it, and it could be something different for everybody. But, you know, the bottom line in many ways, you know,

for so many Canadians and for so many people around the world, it was a story of an incredible tragedy. And, you know, for a lot of people they would have a hard time ever going back to a spot like that if that had been a part of their life but it says something about you and i guess i'm i'm trying to figure out what it is that it says about you that you would feel warmth there and going back yeah i think the reason why i feel warmth is because i love those people so much and they knew that i love them too and it was like probably one of the most tragic things i could think of i've ever been in my life for sure and for me it feels like a sense of home in the fact that

they are like there's lots of work there and even like the arena too there's it's really hard to go back to that but that's where like some of the best memories were made in that arena and so for me it's just trying to find the best part of them and remember them for the best people that they were and so when i go back it's nice to see all the love that they've received you see their crosses and you see how much people put things there flowers old sticks beer can like you see all those little things and it just kind of reminds you of the personalities that were on that bus and all the different lives that they lived and how much life there was left on that bus. And it's really challenging and sad, but there's also some beauty in there because I was fortunate enough to even be a part of that

and to know those people for who they were before their lives were taken. And so for me, or before even all our lives were changed, I was able to know them and create a relationship and a bond. You know, the Humboldt Broncos story on that day is kind of frozen in the minds of a lot of people. They tend to, it's one of those moments that you remember where you were when you first heard it. You know, I was in San Diego. I was giving a speech in California when I, you know, I woke up early that morning and there it was on, you know, with the time difference and everything, there it was on my phone. And it, you know, it obviously shattered me and it shattered a lot of other people.

But you tend to remember where you were in the moment that you found out about it. Your situation obviously is different. You were there. What do you, what do you remember about that moment i only remember everything leading up to it actually i don't remember anything afterwards so i remember us being on the bus and enjoying it just having like jokes and having a good time and then um in front of me nick schlansky said this is where i grew up kind of thing and the guy in front of him said part of it was that nobody cares and then people started laughing then jackson joseph

behind him said oh i care and then all of us like kept on laughing and that was like the last thing i remember i put in my headphones after that i was like okay i need to focus up so i put in my headphones we were close to nipple and i usually listen to music before i actually go on the, or before we even get there to get my head in the game. I usually try to mentally prepare and do a little bit of visualization. And so I put my headphones in, close my eyes, put my head down. And that was the last thing I remember. I didn't hear anything. I didn't see anything.

So in a sense, I was pretty lucky for that. And then afterwards, I actually don't remember anything from that point up until four days after the crash. So I was like completely washed, but I was still like talking to people. I was still being able to have communication to walk. Yeah, it was super weird. And they call it post-traumatic amnesia. And so I think the brain injury definitely inflected that and according to my first responder i was supposedly walking around on the scene and i don't remember that whatsoever

and i don't remember talking to him i don't remember getting into angulants like i don't remember the thing so there's a lot lots of things that i still don't know and people can even relate it like i've never been blacked out but like when people are blacked out it's still functioning and then they don't remember it the next day i was like the same type of thing but um yeah it's really weird and then first i remember was waking up in the hospital being really confused and that was four days later you know the part of your book aside from you telling your story is listening to your parents tell their story of those four days, really. Yeah.

Because they were there like right from the moment they were waiting for you in, in that town, waiting for you to arrive. They were having supper and they, you know, they suddenly saw ambulances and police cars going by and you know, one thing led to another and then they tried to get to the scene and in this desperate attempt to try to find out where you were if you were alive or not so their story is is remarkable enough but in in so many ways it was them that helped piece together for you what had happened yeah 100 no it was literally they were there like you said right

on the scene and like they were 10 feet away from the bus and so for them to even be there and see that is i couldn't imagine any of those first responders being there and seeing that even the people surviving survivors seeing some of that it's so i feel terrible for them and nobody should ever have to go through that. But, yeah, they pieced it all together, and their strength and courage throughout this whole process is something that I super admire and respect and try to emulate because that would not be easy talking about it from their standpoint, and they saw the worst of the worst.

They saw me at my worst ever in my life, and so for them, their strength is something that i really admire and respect so this book is a story about family it's just there are so many stories within this book it's so many levels to it but part of it is is family your family you and your parents who've been through so much in your life beyond this, you know, this, this is, you know, tragic enough, this story, but there were so many different elements to your family story of, you know, your sickness as a child, the fact that you're a diabetic, your dad's struggle,

basically to stay alive in a key part of your younger life and how all of you, it was more than just hanging together. I mean, you guys went out of your way to be with each other at all these critical moments, especially for you, you know, a potential young hockey star, you know, living away from your parents from a young age. And yet the way you all tended to get together, whether it meant driving through the middle of the night to get to a hospital to see whichever one of you was in trouble at that time.

But the book is a story about family on so many different levels, isn't it? It is. It really is. And that was one of the key features I wanted the team to be was family because everyone has a family. And for me, my family is so special. And I'm not going to be the person I am today without them. And it's not even just my immediate family. It's the other external family too.

It's that community. It's my teammates, my coaches, my teachers. There's so many people that have shaped me to be the person I am today. And I think they are all family to me. Especially being the only child and having best friends and going to places. I just think that my view of family is a lot larger than some other people's. And I'm so thankful for everybody in my life who has helped me to be a person today. Another level of family in this book is, and you kind of hinted at it there, was your fellow players, teammates, who have played with you throughout your life.

You know, you heard from some of those who must have been gone back to your Tim Horton days or whatever, you know, the youngest ones were. And that, I guess in some ways surprised me, the number of contacts you got in the days when you were able to read mail and have some sense of what was going on around you, but the number of letters you got from former teammates who were now playing in different parts of the U.S. at different colleges or different teams, this sense of family within that hockey community of kids your age is quite, is quite something to read about when you're not familiar with that kind of, you know, fact that so many people are so close.

Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. Completely. And even having my buddies fly back from all over, like from Vermont, I guess, yeah. Like Omaha, Arizona, Sy syracuse like it was just it was crazy just to think about where everybody was coming from and how they wanted to see me and even like langley it's just like i'm just super grateful to have such tight-knit friends and even like buddies that you get in hockey that you go and your teammates but then they leave and they're like your brothers and i think that's something super special, especially in the hockey community and any team, actually.

This can apply to work, too. Some of your co-workers can be some of your best friends for life. And even with school, some of your classmates can be your best friends. And so in a hockey world, we were lucky enough to form really tight bonds, and their support at me when I was my lowest was something that I'm super grateful for and helped me heal too it was something special just to see them walking in the hospital when you don't expect them to be there so uh cnm is really definitely something special that must have

been quite something when you're you're in the hospital bed you've been there for how long were you in hospital at the beginning i was in there for 21 days. So not that long, but still long. Sure. Hey, that's three weeks. It's a long time. But as you say, not as long as some of your teammates who were there for much longer than that. But it must have been quite something to be lying there in your bed at whatever day 15 or something and look up and suddenly see some kid who you used

to play with a few years before you haven't heard of or perhaps haven't touched base with suddenly walking in from you know from another part of the world almost yeah to say yeah it's it's like it leaves me speechless even like even the messages or the videos um one of my old teammates was playing in Minnesota Dul duluth and ben pat and they ended up winning the national championship for ncaa division one and he sent me a video with him he's like dolly this is for you and it was like him holding a piece of the net and they're doing like their team like get together after the win and just like those little things meant the world to me and even the external of my own life like the support of the

whole nation of the whole world was just overwhelming of love and gratitude like i'm so grateful for it like it's just it's so really how tight of a community we can be and how we can come together as a nation and i think there was definitely some beauty in that aspect well the nation sure did come together I mean we still on our porch here in Stratford Ontario we still got the hockey sticks we put out there for that reason and you'll see a lot of it in in town and in little towns across across the country in some ways almost more small communities than big communities. I'm not trying to suggest that people weren't moved because they were terribly moved in every city in the country, but there's something about small towns

and their connection with junior hockey and how important these teams are to each community. I mean, it's almost like a lifeblood of some communities to have that team where they all get together to cheer for even in the in the dark years when the teams aren't necessarily performing that well but it is a part of their life it's a part of their community and uh and so in that way everybody identified with it because it was like their their team like their town and their team could have been them. Because buses too, right?

Everybody goes on a bus in their life. It's hard to find a person that's never been on a bus. And the bus feels like a safe space too. I know some of the best fun times are on a bus playing cards or joking around with somebody on the bus. I remember

even being a kid elementary school and taking the bus home every day and it was just like no seat belts you think you're fine you sit in your seat you toss the person aside you play games or you rock your scissors like just stuff like that where you have no worries in the world it's just a happy space you're safe like nothing can happen to you. And then, sure enough, some things like this do happen, and that's part of life. And so I think everybody can relate to that aspect of being on a bus and feeling that kind of sense of security

and then also having that connection with other people. Have you been on a bus since? Yes, I have, actually. I went on a bus back in June, actually, of 2018, so a couple months after, I took a bus to the Washington Capitals game versus Vegas and not been in the NHL Semi-Cup Finals. And how'd that feel?

Not the game, but the bus. The game was awesome. The bus, it was actually on the 12th where I thought they were going to take a shuttle. So I was thinking like it was going to be a van or something. And they pulled up in a bus and like a coach bus and i'm like oh okay and so then uh there's only like me and about five others on the bus their parents and maybe five others and so i went and sat down and kind of like left around i was like wow i'm on the bus. And it didn't really hit me. I saw the bus blowing up and I was like, Oh,

okay. Whatever went on. I was like, Whoa, I'm in a bus. And I was sitting in Mark Ross's spot. So I looked at my parents, I was in Mark Ross's spot and they're like, and they, they hit them. Like, Oh my goodness, hit them. That this is the first time I was on a bus. And they completely forgot about that too. Not even forgot, but they just completely weren't focused on that aspect of me being on the bus for the first time i was like yeah you guys are sitting in darcy's spot and then they're like oh my goodness like are you okay like yeah i'm actually okay like

this isn't that bus and it isn't like the odds of it happening again are super slim did i have my seatbelt here yeah but like it's not it's not gonna happen if it does i. Do I have my seatbelt here? Yeah. But it's not going to happen. If it does, I'll be safe with the seatbelt. I think there's so much strength in going back to the darkest places you can and try to find the positives in it. And so for me, being on a bus is one of the darker places I could go, and I wanted to overcome that.

You know, I think we understand of just how violent those those seconds must have been uh on impact but i didn't realize it as much until i read in your book about i now i can't remember now whether it was you or one of your your your pals um who was sitting i think in row 12 and yet when it was all over, he had impacted on his skin or yours, the 5C. Yeah, that was me. That was you. That was me.

The seat seven rows ahead of you. Yeah, yeah. So I was in 12 and row 12. And so, yeah, it was, I don't even know how it happened to be honest but obviously i was in an aisle seat row 12 and uh it was on the driver's side and i must have when we did collide with the trailer of the semi i must have honestly flew forward out of my seat and hit my right side of my head because i fractured my right skull right side of my skull and then i must have bounced and hit my eye my left eye on a 5c and then fell again on my head and got a puncture wound in it and so i don't remember that at all like i said but it's all speculation right now, and I'll probably never remember it.

But I think that was the big trauma was doing that, and I would have flew because I obviously broke my neck and my back as well. So it would have been pretty severe and serious of a situation. Now, I've got to be careful with how much I asked you because this book is so good. You want to read it. You want to listen to it this way. And I, you know, I just went through, I had a book a couple of months ago and I did a lot of these interviews, the pre-interviews. And I didn't want to talk about all the people who were in the book because I wanted to make sure people got the book, right? I didn't want to give it all the people who are in the book because i wanted to make sure people got the book right i didn't want to give it all away in the interview so i let me let me pull back

and just ask a couple of general questions but there i i don't want to overdo this but i i think you you've got this this book is is really good there's so many parts about it that um that really stick in certainly in my mind um anyway the uh what i was going to ask you about there's a sentence you wrote it's one of the shortest sentences in the whole book it's only four words long comes in around page 265 or something like that. And it's very simple. It says, I am a miracle. That's all it says. So tell me about that. Tell me about why you are a miracle. Well, yeah, due to the severity of my brain injury and based on the scans,

the doctors have deemed me as a miracle, but it goes way deeper deeper than that we didn't really know actually how serious my brain was and my parents didn't even know in that four-day phase how serious my brain was and it actually took a phone call from my general practitioner and they called my guys saying i'm super super sorry about the tragedy and my dad's like yeah like there's nothing we can do like it's just we're speechless right now it's so hard to take it all in and he was like yeah i know like i am like super super sorry like i know kill will never be the same he's like yeah like we're working through it um and he'll he'll hopefully be okay and kind of become himself again he's like no like i know he can't walk or talk or

remember your guys' names and my dad was like what do you mean and the guy was like well like based on a scan like he shouldn't be able to walk talk or remember your guys' names like my dad was just talking to us like not too long ago like just now and so anyways my doctor didn't believe it he came in and we walked i was like hi dr licos and i guess he fell to the floor and started crying he just couldn't get over it and that was when it really hit me in my parents house serious and severe my brain injury was and then on top of that with my fracture my neck i had none that were um unstable and so if they were unstable in my neck or my back i would have been paralyzed and so i'm very very grateful that they were stable and so those are like the two big things that deem me as a miracle because i should be

honestly probably in a vegetative state not be able to remember my name how to walk or talk and paralyzed from a neck down and so the fact that i'm here and able to do so well and it's something that lots of neurologists and even doctors and other people have deemed me as a miracle so it's something i take a little bit weird i don't call myself ever a miracle uh i obviously did there in the book but it was just because that's what I've been told ever since and I'm so thankful and grateful to have my wits with me still and to be myself

and to not have many lingering effects from this tragedy and it's yeah I think it's just something that leaves me honestly so so grateful and thankful there's no other words to describe it leaves me honestly so so grateful and thankful there's there's no other words to describe it for me well part of the credit obviously for that goes to you and your resilience goes to your family goes to your teammates who stayed close to you um and it goes to health care workers and you

and you're not shy about talking about that and that special bond that you you had there's this the story of how when it was a year or so later when for a different reason you ended up in the hospital and one of the one of the nurses had been there that night and it looked after you that night and she almost broke down in tears when she saw you yeah and i think that's one of the pieces i really want to touch on too is like just showing how health care workers are affected by these things too and it's not just the people going through it it's the other people that are trying to help you and yeah i feel terrible that she was crying and reflected those feelings on her and it's just it goes to show just how much you can have it on a person impact on a person

based on the situations and also how stressful their jobs are i couldn't imagine having 29 people rushed into emergency room and you're trying to triage them and take care of them while you're dealing with their own factors of holy crap like what just happened this is such a huge event like there's a lot being thrown at them and the way that they've handled the situation was amazing i think it's not easy you can never be perfect either and so i am super grateful for them saving me and saving my teammates and doing their best every day and not just that day but literally doing their best every day and so you that day but literally doing their best every day and so you're right like there's there's that definite connection that you have with them and i've made a

lot of friends as well as in the hospital too and i think that's the cool part is like you become attached to them they become attached to you so the fact that i was able to make some friends with some nurses and doctors and physiotherapists and occupational therapists and all those different kinds of people in the medical field is something super special. And that's kind of why I wanted to go into it too. It validated the fact that that was the right path for me as a student and scholar. You want to be a chiropractor.

Now, when did you just, when did you decide that? So this is a long time actually has been coming. When I was 13, I got diagnosed with Sherman's disease, which is a long time actually it's been coming when i was 13 i got diagnosed with sherman's disease which is a curvature in your spine and that was when i actually first went to chiropractic when i was 13 and i absolutely was so fascinated i had so many questions for them and i just wanted to know every single detail and i literally i couldn't i actually had to leave

and then come back and ask some more questions when he was off. And so that was when I first fell in love with it. And then I did it throughout my whole hockey career just to keep maintenance and just to stay healthy. And right after the tragedy, it really validated my reasonings because I loved how versatile it was and how it made me feel too. And I thought it was probably one of the bigger things in my recovery process. Having vertebral fractures is definitely not easy um and i had to let those heal first but then after to like make sure they were aligned uh to make sure my body felt good was i definitely credit that to chiropractic treatment and then also the fact that i can have that personal connection with people too i've always wanted to help and give back and be a support to people. And I feel like in that career,

I have an impact on 50 people per day and I want to make the most of my time with them and enjoy it and hopefully have that positive impact on their life. And so when they come, it's the best five minutes of their day, 10 minutes of their day, 15, and then they leave and then they want to come back again and get to build that bond with them. Because I think the bond is something super special. Here's my last question, Caleb. What do you want people to take away from the story, from this book?

Well, I think lots of different things. I'd love them to take away hope, resilience, and family. I think those are three key themes throughout the book. Then I also hope that they can find goodness in themselves that if they do get the book, that a portion of the proceeds will be going to stars or ambulance who are help who saved lives on April 6th, but then save lives every day. And I think there's honestly nothing more valuable than having a second chance of life.

And then I also want them to take away just hopefully something for them. Hopefully there's something in there that they can take away or apply to their life or even just tell a friend, hey, like, I think that you should read this because of this. Or even the personal connection to how we all have our own crossroads in life. And in that, we need to find the positive and the beauty of those crossroads and to also enjoy it all and to enjoy our life because our life can be taken in an instant or it can be changed in an instant so to find those crossroads and navigate them and to know that life is hard but you can get through it okay i lied i have one more question all good yeah do you dream do i dream dream as in which kind of form dream well dream dream do you dream about that night that day i actually don't i don't have any dreams about that i don't

suffer any ptsd or um anything like that i'm i'm super grateful that i don't and i have taken the right steps to limit myself from that too i've stayed away from alcohol I've been open and vulnerable talking to people about how I'm feeling um I've always been an open book but now I've said even a little bit more of an open book but uh I've really wanted to heal properly and not take any shortcuts in my healing journey and so now I can look at myself and I'm happy with how I've healed and it still is a healing process though and every day like I said I always think about those 16 that aren't here and I try to carry them forward with me in a positive way I try to move forward in their light and to put myself in their shoes and if I wasn't here what I want survivors to do what I want them

to be happy of course I would and what I want them to live their lives their fullest of course so that's what i try to do every day and hopefully i'm they're proud of me okay you're a remarkable young man and i've really enjoyed talking to you and i and the book is it's hard to look at that book and say hey i really enjoyed that book because it's a tough read, but it's a rewarding read as well. And I'd highly recommend people to read it. Thank you for doing this, Caleb. Really appreciate it. Well, thank you so much for having me on here. It's honestly an honor to be talking to you right now, and it's a privilege.

So I'm very thankful for this opportunity. And it's a great question on my book. It's a little bit weird, different situation, but I'm super grateful. And I'm excited. I'm excited. I just hope people enjoy it. I think they will. And they'll learn from it.

Take care. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it and wishing you all the best as well. I saw your book is out too. I'm actually going to buy a copy in person here. I want to go to the library

and get it when I'm going to get mine. So it'll be a fun one. Well, it too is a story of resilience not this kind of resilience that you went through but resilience nevertheless what would be the key themes you think what would be your key themes well i think it's facing up to the challenges that are in front of you and and being determined to uh to deal with them and as you have have done, I mean, the stories that, that I tell in my book, they're very, you know, they're all different kinds of people from different backgrounds, different cultures,

different professions and different things that happened to them. They could have been fighting racism. They could have been recovering from some have done a bad automobile crash, but others, a disease. There are all kinds of different things. But it's that common theme is one of resilience and determination and belief. You know, behind you there, you've got your belief signature on your bookcase. And that's one of the common themes of all of us.

I'm excited. I'm excited to grab mine then. And that's awesome that you got a book too. That's great. So I themes of all of us. I'm excited. I'm excited to grab mine then. And that's awesome that you got a book too. That's great. So I'm glad you got that. Thank you so much for everything. Seriously, this means the world. So thank you for having me on here.

Isn't he great? I told you, this is a remarkable young guy. Caleb Dahlgren, the book's called Crossroads. I know you love that. Here's a guy who survives a serious brain injury, a broken neck, a broken back, and countless other injuries. And here we are in the interview less than three years later, and he wants to interview me about my book.

So I guess he wants to be a chiropractor. Sounds like he could be a journalist too. He was at his home in Saskatoon in his room with his little Believe signature written on the wall or on the wall behind him. And it was great to talk to him. Now, I want to talk to somebody else. One of the first people to see him, somebody you know very well, was there within 36 hours. And when we come back, we'll do just that. We'll talk to Ron McLean. Welcome back to The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge.

Well, as we said, after the Humboldt Broncos crashed, the country and the world responded. Literally millions and millions of dollars was donated to the cause of those who'd lost their lives and for the survivors it was a remarkable outpouring from across the country and across the world and as you know we talked about with caleb there the hockey sticks issue of people putting hockey sticks on their front porches. But one of the first people there, within I think 36 hours,

of the crash. Remember the crash happened on a Friday night. So on Saturday night, Ron McLean was doing hockey night in Canada by Sunday morning. He was there. I had a quick chat with Ron about what all this meant. So, Ron, you and Don were there within hours, literally within hours. Take us through that. What was that like?

Well, I always liken it, Peter, to a paradise built in hell, which is a story that I borrow from Rebecca Solnit, a great author. She described after a hurricane had touched down in the Maritimes, that situation of people coming together and getting through something, a paradise built in hell. And that's what ICU was like for me. Honest to God, when I think about the carnage that anybody survived, I just think of the doctors and nurses at Royal University Hospital. Everybody was so swollen, Peter, that that's the first thing that struck you, uh, is that each body was almost three times as ordinary size. And, uh, and there was a calm in the treatment of it. Uh, you know,

there was such certainty in the approach that was being taken by everybody, including the family, the friends, you remember what Kevin G garringer the president was like and in dealing as kind of the the triage person from the hockey side of things so that you know the first uh couple i met were the smiths and their boy tyler was uh in an induced coma and tyler of course remembers none of uh any of that time just like caleb in the book describes those days that go dark um and he the only reason they knew who tyler smith was was on stairs stars air ambulance he knew his mom's phone number he didn't know who he was he had no identification but he remembered his mom's

phone number and that's how they identified him and that was all part of it you'll recall there was one misidentification uh and then i was dealing with the Straczynskis and the Wassermanns, each of whom had sons with spinal cord injury. And I can remember Grape saying to me at one point when I was speaking with the Wassermanns, he said, Ron, you're not a priest. You know, we were all just swirling through these. I mean, it's 36 hours after the crash. And I was explaining to them because I'd done a lot of work with spinal cord,

the Canadian Paraplegic Association honorary chair, look, life is going to be different, but life will be wonderful. And I promise you that. It's way too soon to even try and process all this. And then I, well, I won't get into the Parker Tobin, Xavier Lebel situation, but, you know, that was the mix-up. And that, you know, just to sit at the bedside of who we thought was Parker Tobin, and Don and I are there, and I say, you know, to sit at the bedside of who we thought was parker tobin and don and i are there and i say you know i'm whispering in his ear and it's actually xavier labelle that i'm

whispering to uh hey parker it's ron mclean don sherry and i are here we're just going to do a little bedside coach's corner for you and and the body he starts to rise up and the nurses have to put him back down he's in an induced coma as well. So imagine all this, God, the heartbreak of the Tobins are so great to this day. They're part of everything, you know, that family, that the 29 sets of parents and families, they're always together. And then I, you know, we, so we continue on Caleb Dahlgren. I, he's, he's on a different floor. So the next floor we go up to are those who are, and by the way,

I do want to mention dana braun too i had the experience of holding her hand uh she she would die the following day but her mom and i were holding hands with dana and she said i have two daughters each of whom has brown eyes but this is my brown eyed girl and they loved her the trainer of the team so then i go upstairs and grayson cameron's the first room we're going to go into. And his mom says, you know, Grayson had a friend die in Alberta in a car accident. So he has been through so, so much, Ron. Be really careful, really gentle as you speak to Grayson. And it was a nice visit with Grayson.

Then the booth across the hall, Braden Camroot hops out of bed right away. So he's one of the more well-off. And he says, Ron, Don, it's nice to meet you. I'm going to introduce you to Caleb Dahlgren here in a moment. But I just want you guys to know I'm going to come back next year and I'm going to honor our captain, Logan Schatz, by playing again. And I thought, wow, who says a thing like that, let alone does it. He did come back and play first in Humboldt and now at Alaska.

And then we meet Caleb and his father, Mark. As soon as we come around the curtain, Mark says, oh, and who might these two be? You know, so he had his sense of humor, right? Shocking in that whole circumstance. And they were giving Caleb a needle. He was about to go off for a spine surgery. Matthew Gomersik, who's one of the players was who kind of walked away from the crash. Matthew was at his bedside holding one of the needles in his right arm while a nurse was applying something to the left arm.

Yeah, so that's, you know, as I told you, we have just a few minutes here. The biggest thing, two things I take away is one, when you read the book, you'll see the thank yous and you've read it. The thank you section at the end really sums up the experience all of us have who have ever been connected with it. That gratitude just pours out of Caleb at every moment. And the other thing I always say now is on reflection, you know, I'm 61 in April. All this time in hockey, you always have a little bit of a feeling like, what are you doing with your life?

You know, this is a trivial pursuit, this game. Is it worth it and the humble broncos after 60 years around it answer the question to that resoundingly yes it is meaningful it is significant uh it does have value in it all kind of the epicenter of that answer has to be humbled well let me take that a little further because so much of this country is built around not only the mystique of hockey, but especially in small towns across the country. Hockey is so important to the community spirit. And the arenas are filled on Friday nights and other nights, even if the team isn't doing that well, because it's like part of the town. And the whole bus thing is part of the experience.

You're a hockey historian, as much as anybody I know. So in the moments we have left here, give me your sense of what this story has meant to the greater hockey story. I think, you know, we did experience a swift current Bronco crash. And Patrick Nogier, who's a police officer in Saskatoon, was the one who, he was on that. He was a member of that team and on that bus. And now as a police officer and phoned me to say, could you and Don pop out? I think, you know, we've experienced crashes death but I don't

think we've ever had as incredible example of of how it's much more than just a game much more than just the team the hockey players involved in the game it's everything around the team and Humboldt somehow epitomized that and as I said when I saw Kevin Gerringer in the crosshairs of trying to answer questions the following day, and his whole life was as an educator, so he had the wherewithal. Darcy Hogan, the coach, when I go out and do a speech in Steinbeck, Manitoba, Paul Dick, the head coach of the Pistons of the Manitoba Junior League, he plays phone messages from Darcy Hogan, coach of the Broncos, that he would receive. The influence right around Canada, the organization, all stems from what they were as a tight-knit hockey club in Humboldt.

And to picture just a junior hockey team on the prairies in a small town in Saskatchewan, having all that, having the best of the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs and having the best of us as citizens. You know, they are the ultimate in sport, in society, and in storytelling. Wow. You know, the book is so gripping. You know, Caleb has really done a good job in putting this together because it's about so much. It's not just about hockey. It's not just about the team.

It's about family, and it's about community. And it draws a line through all of those to give us a sense of a very special part of Canadian life that we can take from this book. So just a quick final thought from you. Yeah, I think, you know, he's an only child. So, you know, Anita and Mark, his mom and dad, his father loved to live big. And then his father, you know, had a very serious illness following a car crash.

And he was, you know, effectively AW wall for a few years at a pivotal point in in his calypso career so you you learn he was a type one diabetic uh there are so many elements and the other thing that really strikes me about him is he was an assistant captain so logan shots i referred to earlier he wore the a which means right away he's a leader on this rather incredible unit. So that's why I think he's such a great person to do the book. It's just, you know, there's so many blessings in the story. I've played hockey with, you know, Joseph, Chris Joseph lost his son Jackson in the crash, and he was seated next to Braden Camrood.

And I heard the story from Braden about what Jackson was like. And they, they keep passing on these stories of the 16 angels, which I think, you know, as Canadians, uh, you know, we, we are such a wide landscape, uh, to, to know one another is very difficult, but in the story of the Broncos, uh, it's easy, uh, that they make it really easy to understand how we are Canadian connected by hockey. Ron, thank you so much for this. Really appreciate it. Me too, Peter. Yeah. Nice.

Ron McLean from Hockey Night in Canada. As I said, he's probably the best hockey historian I know. He knows so many stories. He never forgets names. And he knows this story. And he knows it from firsthand experience and from the fact he's studied it from a distance as well as close up. So the book is called Crossroads. The author, Caleb Dahlgren. 23 years old in the next month or so, he'll be graduating from York University and then heading on to become a chiropractor. We're coming up on the third anniversary

of the Humboldt-Broncos bus crash. It happened on April 6, 2018. And as I said earlier, I don't think any of us will forget where we were, how we heard about this, how we reacted to it, how it touched us, how it touched our communities, and what it meant for Canada. Because it did.

We went into this kind of period of national mourning, televised the kind of memorial service that was held for these fellows who lost their lives and to support those survivors like Caleb. And then TSN, the sports network, put its resources behind televising the first game back for the Humboldt Broncos,

which was in the following hockey season. And we followed at times some of the stories, the individual stories of the survivors. So if you can, grab a copy of Crossroads. It's a remarkable book by a remarkable young guy, Caleb Daldrin. All right, that's it for this special edition of The Bridge. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening.