Lachine balcony fall survivor on road to recovery
Allan Nabinacaboo has spent the past two months in the hospital and a rehab centre recovering from a 15-metre fall from his balcony.
In early December, Nabinacaboo was on his apartment balcony in Lachine with his two friends when the balcony railing broke and all three fell.
The men were from the Naskapi First Nations of Kawawachikamach, a community of 750 people close to Schefferville.
Job Nelson Guanish, 23, and Jimmy Diamond Shecanapish, 32, died in the accident.
"I remember me and Job were leaning on the balcony, on the railing," Nabinacaboo said.
"I don't remember the fall. The whole fall is blacked out."
Nabinacaboo was the sole survivor, but suffered extensive injuries.
"They took out my spleen because it was ruptured. My pelvis shattered, broke in half. I also had surgery on my neck because I shattered a vertebra," he said.
"I had a lot of fractures everywhere."
Nabinacaboo says recovery has been slow. He can walk a few steps with the help of a walker.
Survivor's guilt
"I have dreams about my two buddies all the time," Nabinacaboo said.
"It's really painful thinking about it. I knew those people all my life."
Shecanapish and Guanish had moved to Montreal to become electricians.
On the night of the incident, all three men had been watching the Canadiens game at Guanish's apartment just one floor down from Nabinacaboo's place.
"I just can't believe I'm the one that survived it and they are the ones that passed on," he said.
