Life's worth living

Page 10

For several years, hunter, trapper and outdoor enthusiast Robbie Piche enjoyed his adventures in the nearby marshes and on the rivers that ran close to his hometown of Fort Chipewyan. His love for nature would have continued but for a brain aneurysm that interrupted this precious life.

At 36 years old, Piche had to re-learn how to talk, walk and be independent all over again. Today the 45-year-old holds no grudges and accepts the cards that life has dealt him. He continues to see give thanks for every day.

"It's a beautiful world. There is nothing like it," he said.

After a trip to see a neurosurgeon in Toronto and a number of operations, Piche is rebuilding his life. It took nine years for him to re-learn simple tasks. He had an advantage over the troubles his aneurysm caused him-his art.

Piche is known for his unique moose and caribou antler carvings. Working out of his home, his work sells for hundreds and thousands of dollars.

Piche has 20 per cent mobility in his right arm and leg and can only see directly in front of him. He often suffers with cramps in his right leg.

"Before this happened, I was right handed, so I had to learn how to use my left hand. I had no way to enjoy a steak dinner. I could not even use a fork. It was strange using only my left hand. There was a lot of frustration for me. I lost everything. When I first used a wheel chair I crashed every wall," he said.

But Piche doesn't believe in giving up.

"I guess I put my family through a lot. I was out in a coma for two months and after one of the operations I had they thought that I was not ever going to get out of the hospital. They thought that I would have to stay there for the rest of my life. I could not even move or anything."

"All I could do was use my eyes to look around. I could not even move my head. I had a rough ride. I had a hard time, but my family really helped me," he said.

"I went through hell. The way I live today is so different. Not too many friends stuck by me, because when I was sick I could not talk to them. I tried to make some kind of noise and the people would just look away, but I was stubborn. I never gave up. Although a lot of people have a lot of things going on for them they are still giving up. They have a life and they have to start somewhere, but they cannot ever quit. There is always a way to win. There is always a way to do things the right way. They could win. To give up on life is a wrong way. Right from the start they have to believe daily that they could win. There is hope for everyone. There is room for everyone and there is life for any one who wants it," he said.

Piche, with the help of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, has turned the front area of his home into a carving studio.

"It relaxes me and I feel good after I spend hours on a piece that I'm working on. It is hard to explain how I do it, but an image comes to mind and I just create it. In one of my carvings I carved an eagle with a dreamcatcher at its feet. And I did some of wolves. One of those carvings had a wolf howling. And I also carved a moon and clouds, and that was pretty hard to do. I also carved two moose fighting, horn to horn, and the leaves in the carving were yellow, to represent the fall colors," he said.

"To do one of my carvings it takes me about two months. I usually work on my carvings for two to three hours a day. Some days I work on one of my carvings for six days straight until I get tired and then I rest for a few days. And I work on it again. It is a lot of work to do a carving, to finish a picture, have all the tools I need to do my carvings. I want to thank the band for giving me $8,000 to have a place to do my work. I'm quite pleased about that."

Today, Piche who once worked as a maintenance person at the local nursing station, fills in whenever someone is on leave.

His mother, Madeline, is really proud of her son and of the strides he's made towards recovery. She admits though that the incident s still a blur, due to the shock of seeing her son who was healthy go through something like this.

"It was in November and I remember being at the cabin and I was waiting for him to get there from Fort Chipewyan. He finally got there in the evening. He said 'Mom, I'm going to go and check my traps.' I said 'Yes' and he went outside. A few minutes later he came into the cabin. He sat down rather quickly. I saw that he was sweating a lot. He told me that he had a bad headache, and he wanted to cry, so I called my husband, Alphonse. I said I wonder what is going on with Robbie, come. So I poured holy water over him and he seemed to get better. Then all of a sudden, he fell down. I still can't remember all the details, because I was in shock through most of it. We went through a lot of fears during that time, but today look at what he's doing for himself."

Younger sister Brenda Sitko believes that his interest in carving gives her brother an incentive to keep going.

"If you look at his carvings you will see how serious he is about it. He has something to do and he is succeeding in it and people are buying his carvings, so that makes him feel really good about himself," she said.

"It was a total struggle for everybody, because here was our brother who did not know us anymore. We were like, 'Where is Robbie?' and everybody felt cheated because the Robbie we knew before was taken away from us. The aneurysm was kind of like in the middle of his brain. When they were going to do the surgery they told him that he might not survive the surgery. Even if he did survive the surgery it might happen again, that he might die," she said.

"He totally lost everything, who he really was and then his marriage broke up and that just brought him further down and then he was at a point where he did not want to live. He just did not care. He went through that phase, and then we started talking to him. He struggled through a lot of different things. Eventually he wanted to live by imself and the family was afraid. We were all worried about him. What of he falls asleep while he is cooking and all this stuff, but he insisted that he wanted to be alone. He really came a long way. Today we do not worry about him anymore, because he is a very independent guy. Our brother is on his own; he does not like to be treated like there is anything wrong with him. And he is doing really well," she said.