Menu
July 27, 2016

Simon’s story

Receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau during 2016 season (Photo by Johany Jutras)

They say everybody has a story.

And Simon Charbonneau-Campeau is certainly no exception to that statement.

For the past 19 years, countless members of the Red and White have paid visits to the Alberta Children’s Hospital on the day before each home game as part of the Every Yard Counts program.

Presented with the opportunity to join the community initiative before the 2016 season began, Charbonneau-Campeau felt it was simply meant to be.

“I had a car accident when I was 16,” stated the fifth-year receiver. “I spent like three months in a Children’s Hospital, so I know what kind of environment that can be. I spent one month in intensive care and they didn’t know what was going to happen with me until two or three weeks passed.”

Simon Charbonneau-Campeau visit the Alberta Children's Hospital in 2016

Travelling through Saint-Brigide-d’Iberville, Que., after skiing at nearby Mont Sutton with three friends, Charbonneau-Campeau was positioned in the back seat when their vehicle swerved around a truck travelling down the middle of a narrow, snow-covered road. Able to avoid the initial obstacle, the driver then lost control and collided with the next oncoming car.

That’s when Charbonneau-Campeau’s life changed forever.

“I got out of the car after the hit through the window,” the now-28-year-old recalled. “I woke up on the street laying down and my friends were freaking out. The only thing I remember is that I had trouble breathing because one lung collapsed and the other one started getting blood in it. They gave me blood in the ambulance before getting to the hospital because I lost too much in the accident.”

Fortunate to survive, Charbonneau-Campeau would spend the next year-and-a-half rehabilitating his injuries before receiving full clearance to resume contact sports.

“I had a femur fracture, a hip fracture, a couple (broken) ribs – all my left side was destroyed,” explained No. 87, who nearly had his spleen removed shortly thereafter.

Asked what he remembers once being hospitalized in his hometown of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Charbonneau-Campeau struggled to fight back the tears.

“My accident was on December 27, so I was in the hospital on New Year’s Eve,” the Sherbrooke alumnus recounted. “I was in that room with the lights off with two or three nurses and no family. The family was at home celebrating and I was by myself in there. They were there the next morning and all, but at midnight when that countdown went off, the nurse came to me and said ‘Happy New Year.’ It was just that moment when you realize what they’re doing for you. Those people back at the hospital, they just sacrifice so much to be able to help those kids.”

Rene Paredes and Simon Charbonneau-Campeau visit the Alberta Children's Hospital in 2016

Having overcome the odds and in the midst of a successful playing career, Charbonneau-Campeau fully recognizes his good fortune and is thankful for the remarkable progress he has made.

“Here I am playing professional sports,” reflected the former Ticat, who still experiences occasional pain in his left hip despite multiple surgical procedures. “I’m pretty sure I could go back there to the hospital and say that to my doctor and they wouldn’t believe me. They were saying at first that I wouldn’t be able to walk without a cane for my whole life.”

Now in a position to share his message at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, Charbonneau-Campeau plans on letting the patients know that a positive frame of mind and never-say-die attitude are sometimes the most effective remedies.

“It is about working hard, but it’s (also) about believing, too,” he emphasized. “It’s about not giving up. At that point when you believe you’re going to make it, it’s not about working. It’s about doing what you do. If you don’t see that wall, you don’t think about that wall – it’s just a straight line.”

Receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau during the 2016 season (Photo by David Moll)