Author: Adrien

Once in the ward, I think I slept. It’s been a while since the incident so my memory is a little foggy, but I’m pretty sure the first thing I did was sleep. When I woke up a couple hours later, maybe around 7 or 8, a nurse came and checked my vitals, which are like my blood pressure and if my IV’s were in correctly or not, and how I’m feeling in general. After that, I learned what happened, I had gotten hit by a car. “You were struck by an oncoming vehicle while riding your bike” is what I think the exact words were. She then told me that the only major thing i suffered from was a broken jaw (I think it was like a fractured mandible and something else). I needed to use the washroom, and I told the nurse this, and she helped me stand up, which I had to do very carefully as I had bruises all over my body and everything, including my head, hurt. I grabbed my IV and fluids tower, and slowly walked to the washroom. This was the only time I really had a struggle and it made me feel worse than I already did. The bathroom was probably about 2 or 3 metres away from my bed, and when I first started walking (I denied help) I almost fell. But I made it without any real changes for the worse, aside from my previously asleep, sore muscles waking up and causing pain. But after I finished using the washroom, I started feeling nauseous. I rested my elbows on the sink and my head in my hands. I looked and the mirror, and saw myself, and had a thought that I would never be back to normal, that’s also when I realized I had bitten a hole completely through my tongue. I probably sat resting on the sink for about 5 mins, and when I was feeling better, I opened the door, and walked slowly (the nurse helping me this time) back to my bed. There was a little food and some drink on my bed, and I slowly drank, and tried to eat a little bit, but I couldn’t really as my jaw was broken and there was a clean hole through my tongue. I just sort of sat there for a couple hours, until I went to sleep for the night.

I started playing basketball just casually like at recess when I was in 6th grade, and then decided to join the basketball team. I did OK, but it was grade 6 basketball so the gameplay wasn’t good anyway. I certainly wasn’t the best on the team, nor was I even close, I did not know how to play very well, and didn’t get passed to often. However I was good on defense, so that was what I stuck to. In grade 6, when I joined, I think I dropped 1 basket (2 points) the entire season. I joined in grade 7 too, and I practiced more, and thought i was getting better, but throughout the whole season I didn’t score a single basket. After that, I switched schools from Shoreline to Brookes and I joined the team in grade 8. Let’s just say it was not good. I did not do well, and I got made fun of by the other people on the team for not doing anything. So, in grade 9, I did not join the basketball team. despite kind of wanting to, I knew I wouldn’t do anything. But lately I have started to play basketball at lunch, and have been improving a lot more, so know knows, I might get a lot better and join the team next year

I don’t remember anything about being in an ambulance or getting transported to the hospital, but I know I was awake, because the doctors told my mom I was awake the whole time, so I must not be able to remember because of the concussion. This is not very good because that means that someday, the memories will all come flooding back, and I will be forced to remember every thought and feeling that went through my head when I got hit, when I was laying on the ground in the forest, and when i was getting transported and put into a bed in the hospital. Anyway, the next thing I remember is waking up in a crowded hospital room, I think it was the trauma bay, with my dad’s, brother’s, and sister’s face looking at me. My brother and sister give me three words to remember, to help with memory. I can’t remember what they are its been a while, but I know one of them was dinosaur. I think I remember being talked to by one of the trauma doctors, but I don’t know what he was saying. I then got transported into a different room to wait for a different doctor. The doctor came, I can’t exactly remember what we talked about, and then I got transported into a ward.

What happened after that is hard to remember, because of my concussion. Obviously, the next thing that happened was I went to the hospital, but, after a couple hours, when I fully regained consciousness, I remembered something. I remembered laying on the ground, eyes closed, and I was crying. I remember sirens, and so many voices talking at the same time. I couldn’t stop crying, and I remember feeling like everything was bleeding, but not feeling anything at all at the same time. Someone, I’m assuming either a cop or a paramedic, was talking to me. He asked me what my name was, I think, and I said Adrien Mills. I distinctly remember him asking what my moms phone number was, and surprisingly, I remembered and told him. I could barely speak, because my jaw was broken. I didn’t know that at the time, I thought I was dreaming or something. I heard a lot of voices in the background, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. I think someone was saying it was gonna be ok, and someone else was on the phone. The last thing I remember was laying terrified, unable to move, saying “What happened? What’s going on? What’s wrong with me?” Then I can’t remember anything after that.

It was a Wednesday, May 16th if I remember correctly. It was a normal day at school, I can’t say I was very liked, and I had restrictions on my computer and stuff. So I can’t say it was a very good day, but every single day went like this, so I just did my work all day, and kept to myself. The only thing that was different about that day was that I had an appointment with the doctor right after school, but it was right after school ended, so I had to do the appointment right after school was over, in one of the extra rooms. I had the appointment, in which I expressed my frustration with the current state of my life, so I left angry and sad. I had ridden my bike to school that day, which meant I had to ride it home. So I got on my bike, and started biking home. I took the shortcut like I always did, because going down the big hill took to long and was a waste of time, because I added and extra 10 mins to my journey, and i had to bike a long time uphill to take the way I was supposed to, because that road was 2-way. So i decided to take the shortcut by the bus stop, because that road took me directly where I needed to go, and fast, even though the road was only 1-way, and I was going the wrong direction. The last thing I remember was me riding on my bike past the “do not enter” sign.

I really enjoy swimming, I started swimming when i was 5 years old at the YMCA in Edmonton. I originally started just doing lessons, then eventually I joined a club in the YMCA. It wasn’t really a real swim club, because they didn’t do any swim meets or anything. In 2019, me and my family moved to Montréal, and I got put in some shady, non-registered swim club, which didn’t do swim meets either. I only did that for a little but though because then Covid hit, and they closed down EVERYTHING. Especially in Quebec they locked down everything more than everywhere else. At one point there was a public curfew; you had to be in your house by 10:00 PM, unless you were out walking your dog or something. Anyway, I didn’t do swimming until I moved to Victoria. when I moved to Victoria in the summer of 2021, and almost immediately, my parents put me in lessons. They quickly realized that I was to advanced for all the lessons, and out me into my first real swim club, the Juan de Fuca Royals, in winter 2021. I have been in the Royals since then, and have swam in competitions all through the summer of 2022, 2023, and 2024, and plan to continue swimming competitively for a long time.