WATCH: It was a crash that left a 23-year-old man stranded for days – severely injured and jammed in his crumpled truck. Tonight, we hear from Duncan Moffatt, speaking out for the first time since his rescue. As Kori Sidaway tells us in this CHEK News exclusive, his recovery is far from over.
It’s been nearly a month since Duncan Moffat was found after being trapped for nearly a week in his truck with serious injuries after it veered off the road.
“I’m pretty sure I fell asleep at the wheel and just went off,” said Moffat.
“There was a tree two-thirds of the way down that I hit as a glancing blow and that’s what mashed the door in. The door couldn’t open or anything like and the steering wheel kind of fell down on me.”
Alive, but pinned to the side of his truck, Moffat was around 15 kilometres south of Sayward, with no cell service, no way to call for help.
“It’s a pure happenstance that a hunter was down in the bush and he located the vehicle and called us,” said Constable Francios Veillette with Sayward RCMP.
“So that person may have been in the ditch here about 40 feet down for the last 10-12 hrs. We don’t know exactly when it happened at this time.”
Now, it’s looking like Moffat was trapped for almost a week.
“I remember like flashes of it, like eating my apples, but my brain was kind of creating scenarios like I thought my truck was in my friend’s backyard, just to keep me sane,” said Moffat.
He remembers surviving the week on three crates of apples that were within reach but doesn’t remember the pain, or much else, other than his will to survive.
“Just the need to live, it’s definitely amazing what humans go through and survive,” said Moffat.
Once he was rescued by crews out of the embankment Moffat was flown to Victoria’s General’s Intensive Care Unit with a broken back, multiple broken ribs, broken femur and several internal injuries.
And just Friday, Moffat found out the nerves from the knee down are shot from being trapped for so long.
Still, he remains hopeful.
“It’s always in the back of my mind like it could be worse. Like after all this it’s going to turn out well. I could be walking by the time I get out of here,” said Moffat.
He faces a long road to recovery, with another few months in the hospital, but he’s more than grateful to have another chance at life.
“I worried my Mother and my Dad quite a bit, so it’s definitely good to be found. Couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Moffat.
Kori Sidaway
