B.C. man overcomes 'nightmare' burns to create 'dream come true' life
When John Westhaver woke up in the hospital that day, he was terrified.
“What’s going on?! Where am I?!” John thought, realizing he was attached to countless machines and wrapped in bandages from head to toe. “What happened?!”
The last thing the then-18-year-old recalled was hanging out with his three friends. There was no memory of the fatal crash that made front page news, leaving John the sole survivor, now waking from a month-long coma.
“My whole world had changed,” John says. “I began living a nightmare.”
John suffered life-threatening burns over 75 per cent of his body.
“The pain was hell,” John says. “Hell on earth.”
The physical pain could be overwhelming. The emotional pain was unrelenting.
“I was devastated by the fact that I had lost those friends,” John says. “And I was like, ‘Who’s going to want to date me? Will I be alone forever? Will I have a family?’”
John says he learned to endure the trauma by developing a tough exterior fuelled by anger, until his dad encouraged him to forgive the driver of the other vehicle who caused the crash.
“At first I was like, ‘No way!’” John says.
But he took time to reflect and eventually did it.
“That simple act of forgiving him increased the quality of my life automatically, because I let go of a lot of that anger,” he says.
It was the first step in a journey of healing that eventually led John to stop suffering about his past and start being hopeful and courageous in his present.
“Why live in the past when your future’s ahead of you?” he says.
So John committed to turn his adversity into an opportunity, and began inspiring others through speaking engagements across North America.
He also tried online dating.
“To let somebody in to love you,” John says. “That’s the scariest thing in the world.”
But if you’re brave enough to open your heart, you just might find you're fortunate enough to find the perfect partner.
After countless “butterfly feeling” dates, Bri said “yes” to John’s proposal, followed by “I do” on their wedding day.
“If you would have told me that I would have this life, back when I woke up from the coma, when I was saying, ‘Why Me? Nobody’s ever going to love me again,’” John smiles. “I would have said, ‘You’re full of crap!’”
But love — it’s said — begets love. And now John, Bri and their three daughters are creating a life full of it.
“This is possible,” John smiles. “A guy that looks like me can have a happy, successful, full, rich life, like a rock star!”
You can turn your nightmares into the best dreams come true.
“And they’re still coming true,” John adds with a smile. “I just keep dreaming.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Still so much love between us,' Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
What to know about avian influenza in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Why is H5N1, or bird flu, a concern, how does it spread, and is there a vaccine? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about avian influenza.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
opinion The special relationship between King Charles and the Princess of Wales
Royal commentator Afua Hagan writes that when King Charles recently admitted Catherine to the Order of the Companions of Honour, it not only made history, but it reinforced the strong bond between the King and his beloved daughter-in-law.
Pro-plastic lobbyist presence at UN talks is 'troubling,' say advocates
Environmentalist groups are sounding the alarm about a steep increase in the number of pro-plastic lobbyists at the UN pollution talks taking place this week.
'Too young to have breast cancer': Rates among young Canadian women rising
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
$70M Lotto Max winners kept prize a secret from family for 2 months
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Trump's lawyers grill ex-tabloid publisher as 1st week of hush money trial testimony nears a close
After prosecutors' lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch-and-kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday sought to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election.