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
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.