MINTO – A local man has a new hero, his granddaughter, who got him safely to the hospital after a softball-sized rock slammed through the windshield of his vehicle and shattered his face as he was driving on the 8th Line near his rural home on Feb. 13.
“It was a freak accident,” said Ed Podniewicz, recovering at home after the harrowing episode.
Ed, who suffered severe facial injuries, credits the adept and decisive actions of his granddaughter, Autumn Lancaster, a 16-year-old novice driver, with ensuring the worst didn’t happen.
The pair was headed to the Palmerston and District Hospital around 2 p.m. to have a hand injury sustained earlier by Autumn checked out when the incident occurred.
Ed, who worked as North Perth’s chief building official for many years, was driving his pickup truck about a half-kilometre from the intersection of Wellington Road 109 and 8th Line when the incident occurred.
Autumn notes a transport truck had driven past just before they pulled out of the driveway.
“So we stayed a distance away from it because it was slippery outside,” she recalls.
As the pickup truck approached a hill, Autumn said she saw the truck ahead sway toward the gravel road shoulder.
“Just before we went up that hill, the rock skyrocketed through our windshield …” she told the Wellington Advertiser in a Feb. 22 interview.
“It happened so fast you couldn’t even hear glass breaking… it was like a fast gust of wind and then a sharp, high pitched sound.”
The driver of the truck, who may not even have realized what happened, never stopped, notes Amber’s mother Bridgette Podniewicz.
Despite the horrific blow, Ed was able to stop the vehicle and put it in park.
“I wasn’t feeling pain. I was in shock, I guess. I just I didn’t know what happened, it just happened so fast … I turned to her and said, ‘What the hell happened?’” he recalls.
When she looked at her grandfather, Autumn said she saw his arm and one side of his face covered entirely with blood.
Autumn sprang into action, pulling Ed from the car, and she literally carried him to the passenger seat after he almost fell trying to walk.
“I knew he was losing a lot of blood… which was making him lightheaded… picking him up and carrying him was the best bet,” she said.
“I had to move him out and around and then dust the glass off the seat because… I didn’t want him to pick up glass and cut himself,” she explained.
Autumn Lancaster checks out the damage to her grandfather’s pickup truck following an accident which saw a rock crash through the windshield, striking Minto resident Ed Podniewicz in the face. The 16-year-old took the wheel and drove Podniewicz to hospital following the incident. (Patrick Raftis photo)
Autumn found a cloth to apply pressure to his head wound and called 911 as she began her drive to the hospital.
“I didn’t know if we would make it all the way to the hospital without him either passing out, or something,” she explained.
“So I wanted an ambulance to at least know where I was.”
“She just wanted to make sure that they knew it was an emergency at the hospital,” added Bridgette.
Ed said he recalls little of the drive to the hospital, other than fragments of conversation between Autumn, who just obtained her G1 license in November, and the 911 operator.
However, Autumn said Ed was “responsive” the whole time, even offering directions as they made their way to White’s Road and onto the hospital grounds.
“He was telling me what roads we were on, telling me which way to turn,” Autumn noted.
As Ed received initial treatment, including about 30 stitches around his eye and facial area, and X-rays to determine the extent of the damage, a woman waiting in the reception area helped an emotional Autumn call family members to let them know what happened.
Transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Hamilton, Ed said, “I remember that very bumpy ride for two-and-a-half-hours.”
In Hamilton, Ed underwent plastic surgery, including the installation of two metal plates in his jaw to stabilize it.
As of Feb. 22, he was awaiting a return visit to a specialist to learn more about the damage to his left eye, which was still swollen shut.
“The eye has to be exposed so they can see the damage. They said the retina was still attached, so that’s a good thing,” he explained.
Ed said the treatment he received both in Palmerston and Hamilton has renewed his appreciation for the health care system.
“It’s a good health care system we have. I’m very happy with it,” he noted.
A long-time Minto resident and current town council member, Ed is working part-time as a chief building official for Howick Township, after a lengthy stint as chief building official in North Perth.
While not yet sure when he will be able to resume work at either position, he said he has been “impressed” with the response from Minto officials and staff.
“They stepped up. They got in contact with my work right away,” he pointed out.
“They made an arrangement for (Minto deputy chief building official) Dave Wilson to do my inspections and… permits.”
While Ed’s recovery is proceeding well, he and Bridgette noted the situation could have been far worse had Autumn not been with him.
“I don’t think I would have been driving. I would have had to wait until somebody could call 911,” said Ed.
“You would have passed out and hopefully been found by somebody,” added Bridgette.
“She’s my hero,” Ed stated proudly of Autumn.
