CALEB NICKERSON
LUSKVILLE Jan. 10, 2018
A Gatineau teen had all four of her limbs amputated after being electrocuted in a horrific accident near Luskville over the holidays.
Late on Christmas Eve, 18-year-old Sabryna Mongeon was driving back to Gatineau from her mother’s home in Luskville. To avoid the highway, she took side roads.
“She [went] to see some friends in Gatineau,” explained Mongeon’s older sister Samantha. “In the back road, she lost control of her car.”
Sabryna struck a hydro pole near the corner of chemin de Crégheur and chemin de la Butte, causing the wires to fall on her car. Fearing that the vehicle would catch fire, she attempted to get out and was electrocuted with 14,500 volts.

Samantha said that her sister immediately lost her left foot was stuck outside her car, exposed to the elements, for around four hours. With temperatures dropping to the negative double digits that night, her extremities were frozen, compounding on the injuries from the power lines.
MRC des Collines Police public relations officer, Sgt. Martin Fournel, said that a snowplow driver found Sabryna just before 6:30 a.m. and called emergency services.
“When he stopped, he saw the car door was open and he heard her voice,” Fournel said. “She was still conscious. She even asked for his cell phone and called her mom.”
Sabryna was transported to Hull Hospital where she was put into a coma to be stabilized and transferred to the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). There, Samantha said that doctors brought her out and asked Sabryna if she wanted to go through with the amputations.
“The team asked her if she wanted to fight for her life and she said, ‘Yes I’m going to fight, I want to live,’” Samantha explained.
She was put back in a coma and doctors initially amputated her right foot, three inches above the knee of her left leg, as well as both her arms midway up the forearm.
On Jan. 5, she underwent another surgery, where they removed part of her left arm above the elbow. In an interview on Jan. 8, Samantha said that her sister was stable and doctors were looking to bring her out of the coma in the next few days.
Alexis McConachie, a communications coordinator with the War Amps, said that even after they have recovered from surgery, amputees have a long and arduous road to return to everyday life.
“Once their limb or limbs have healed, they’ll go through the process of getting a prosthetic fitting, which is the process of getting a prosthesis and learning how to walk with it or use it,” she said. “They have to rehabilitate and learn how to do those daily living tasks that they were able to do before.”
She added that Sabryna’s burns could interfere with her recovery as well.
“That does complicate things, she might require specific components of a prosthesis that make it easier or more comfortable to wear those limbs,” she said.
The sisters’ mother has been by Sabryna’s side in Montreal for the whole ordeal and Samantha launched a fundraiser website, initially to pay for her accommodation and travel expenses.
As the story gained traction in media outlets, the site went viral and at the time of print, close to $130,000 had been raised.
“It’s crazy, I’m so thankful. I can’t believe it,” she said, adding that funds would go towards prosthetics and rehabilitation for Sabryna. “It’s a lot of money, but for my sister it’s going to be more than that.”
Donations for Sabryna’s recovery can be made here: www.onedollargift.com/ca/Reve-Grave-accident-de-la-route…-26542.