A woman who shattered her face in a horror hiking accident was left so traumatised she covered every mirror in her home because she couldn’t bear to look at herself.
Alexie André-Bélisle smashed her skull after slipping on ice during a terrifying fall, suffering injuries to her nose, eye and jaw.
The 35-year-old freelance journalist lost consciousness but was saved by her boyfriend, Austin, who raised the alarm, and the pair were rushed to hospital.
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Alexie says the love and support of family and friends is helping her through the trauma, but initially she struggled to look at her own reflection.
Now the keen hiker, undeterred by her shocking and painful ordeal, is sharing her recovery to help others.
“I thought my face looked really scary,” Alexie, from Montreal, Canada, told creatorzine.com.
“I didn’t like seeing myself so hurt when I was not expecting it.
“It’s one thing to take a picture of yourself, but it’s another thing to wake up at night to go to the bathroom and see Chucky staring back at you in the mirror.
“I already struggle a little with body image, which I think is unfortunately the case for a lot of women of my generation, so this was hard to accept.
“I decided to cover my mirrors with happy things instead.
“Seeing messages and drawings from my family and friends and boyfriend was so much nicer.
“I had them up for a month.”
Alexie was out for a hike with Austin when the accident happened.
Alexie André-Bélisle after horror fall. (Jam Press/@alexieoutside)
She said: “It was a Spring day but there was still some ice on the trail.
“I slid into a gully and landed 15-feet further down the trail.
“While I was sliding off the path knew it would be a big fall so I was really scared.
“Austin was behind me and I was yelling his name while he was trying to reach me.
“I lost consciousness and woke up a few minutes later.
Alexie André-Bélisle after horror fall. (Jam Press/@alexieoutside)
“Austin had broken his wrist while trying to run after me, so he was also in a lot of pain.
“I couldn’t see well because of the blood in my right eye and it was hard to assess what was going on because my whole body hurt.
“Austin called the emergency services and we decided to start hiking down because we knew we would be hard to reach.
“It was pouring with rain and getting dark and cold.
“We had 1.5 miles to go but we were so slow that it took us almost two hours.
Alexie André-Bélisle after horror fall. (Jam Press/@alexieoutside)
“We were eventually joined by an on-call forest ranger for the last 15 minutes.
“He couldn’t do much but it was still reassuring to have someone with us.
“When we got off the trail, two ambulances were waiting for us to bring us to the closest trauma centre, which was in Plattsburgh.
“My parents met us there.”
Alexie said Austin supported her both during and after the fall.
She said: “I don’t remember Austin’s reaction because of the intensity of the moment.
Alexie André-Bélisle after horror fall. (Jam Press/@alexieoutside)
“But the very next day he was already saying I was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
“I jokingly replied that made him a psychopath.
“My family and friends reacted with emotion and compassion, not a lot of words…more sympathy and gentle hugs.
“When I arrived at the hospital, I was placed in the polytrauma urgent care.
“They were worried about my spine because I had neck pain and potential internal bleeding.
“But I ended up being very lucky in my bad luck.
“I only had fractures on my face and there was no damage to my spine or internal bleeding.
“In the hospital in Plattsburgh, they took a CT scan and they did a lot of sutures.
“I needed three lines of three-layered sutures on my eye and one line of one-layered suture over my lip.
“Austin had a really bad fracture on his wrist and also received care at the hospital.
“At about 5am, both Austin and I were cleared to go.
“I wanted to leave the hospital as soon as I could because it was very expensive for me.
“We rented a hotel room to sleep for a few hours, and then Austin, who’s American, stayed behind and my parents drove me to a hospital in Montreal.
“I had to wait to be seen for eight hours, which meant that I was without pain meds for about 18 hours.
“It’s hard to describe how much pain I felt and how difficult that wait was.
“It was more difficult than the hike down the mountain because I couldn’t do anything to help myself.
“I was finally seen by a doctor at about midnight – more than 24 hours after the accident.
“I was prescribed pain relief and told to come back in the morning to see a plastic surgeon and an eye specialist.”
Alexie spent the whole following day at the hospital with her sister where she was thoroughly examined.
The plastic surgeon told her she needed to come back in a week to get her nose put back into place.
Alexie said: “I haven’t needed any other procedures so far because thankfully, other than my nose, the broken bones have not moved much.
“I had a check up a week later and will need to go back in six months and then again in a year to see if my face needs adjustments to regain symmetry.
“Now I have to massage my scars and apply tape, so it’s more convenient to see myself in the mirrors at home.
“I also feel healed enough to be somewhat at peace with how I look.”
Alexie wanted to document her experience because she thinks other people can learn from her mistakes or relate to her healing journey.
She said: “Editing videos of myself was very difficult at first.
“I avoid wearing makeup or doing anything that involves touching my face because it still hurts.
“But the biggest impact in my life has been that I can’t do sports yet, and I can’t eat solid food because of my broken jaw.”
The accident has also come at a huge financial cost.
Alexie said: “Everything in Canada is free.
“I haven’t received my bill from the American hospital yet but I imagine it will be more than $10,000.
“The ambulance ride itself was $3,100.”
As for comments online, Alexie said the reaction has been mixed.
She said: “I have received supportive messages, but I have also had pretty nasty comments from people who haven’t hiked in this region and think they know better than me about what I should have been wearing and doing.”
Despite the horror fall, Alexie insists she won’t stop being adventurous.
She added: “I love the outdoors, I love hiking and rockclimbing, and I will keep doing it.
“I have learned some things that I will put into practice to make sure I do it in the safest way possible.
“But at the end of the day, accidents happen, and you are way more likely to be injured in a car accident or develop health problems by not being active.”
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