It was a freak accident that left a woman severely injured and killed the family dog as her daughter looked on.
A Sydney, N.S., woman struck by a car as she waited with her child to catch the bus says she's moving forward through the pain with forgiveness.
“He's been the best companion,” Angelique Swann says of the family’s new dog. “There's been lots of days crying in bed because I didn't know what was happening with myself.”
It's been a difficult nine months for the 37-year-old Swann in January she was hit by a vehicle while waiting at the bus stop with her daughter.
She was tossed in the air, bouncing off the windshield and eventually landed on the ground. Swann says the result was a broken neck and some fractured bones.
Still today, Swann suffers from concussion-like symptoms.
“I feel like I'm hungover or have the flu on a daily basis,” Swann says. “That's the thing that keeps me down the most.”
Swann also says she suffered short-term memory loss and her life has been completely changed forever.
The 25-year-old passenger of the vehicle was given five months jail time followed by one-year probation and a two-year driving ban.
According to court documents Zachery MacKenzie was upset the breakfast sandwich he ordered that morning was not made properly.
Out of rage, he grabbed the steering of the vehicle, which was being driven by his girlfriend causing her to lose control, hit the curb, and then Swann and eventually crashing into this house.
Still Swann says she forgives the couple for what happened that day.
“I do understand what it's like to be completely angry and frustrated, and to act out of that, I think all human beings can relate to that,” Swann said.
Swann feels forgiveness and a positive outlook are helping her heal, but she's also trying to be strong for her little girl, who was there at the time and witnessed the crash.
“She gets upset because she saw the car coming and she says the car hit her hand and she wanted me to move out of the way,” Swann said. “But, because it all happened so fast, she couldn't get me to move out of the way, so she takes that as something she didn't do.”
Still the family are focusing on the positive and taking it one day at a time.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.