‘It doesn’t heal as quickly as the bones’: trauma survivors group offers peer support
TORONTO — Wednesday marks one month since a gunman went on a shooting rampage on a bustling street in Toronto’s Greektown, leaving two dead and 13 injured. Yet for these survivors, the trauma related to that night of violence may go far beyond their physical injuries.
But who is there to help? Who else but another trauma survivor could understand not only the effects on the body, but also the psychological and social issues that keep victims trapped on what may seem like a never-ending road to recovery?
Margaret Harvey does. And she has made it her mission to help others who have experienced a life-altering trauma to navigate that path and to not feel so alone.
In November 2012, Harvey was about to cross an intersection on her bike in downtown Toronto when a garbage truck came around the corner, cutting her off and sending her flying to the ground. The truck’s back wheels then drove over her, crushing her pelvis and causing massive internal bleeding.