Benedykt Hewelt, a Polish navigation officer, returned to St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver on Tuesday, 45 years after the staff saved his life. The 95-year-old visited the hospital with his family to express his gratitude in person.
A life-changing accident
On June 5, 1981, Hewelt was working on the Panamanian ship Saint Innes, docked in Vancouver Harbour. While checking the ship's readiness to receive cargo, he accidentally fell four storeys into the hold. The fall left him with severe injuries: an open fracture to his left elbow, a fractured pelvis, damage to his right kidney (later removed), fractured ribs on the left side, a concussion, and damage to the lower spine. Remarkably, he remained conscious throughout the ordeal.
"His right hand was free, and so he whistled, and somebody heard that," said his granddaughter Basia. Paramedics rushed him to St. Paul's Hospital, where he underwent an eight-hour operation.
Four months of recovery
Hewelt spent four months at St. Paul's before he was healthy enough to return home. He never forgot the care he received. At Christmas, with Basia's help, he drafted an email to the hospital. "After the surgery, I saw doctors standing by my operating table," he wrote. "I asked, 'How am I doing?' One of the doctors, as I understood it, said among other things: 'You will live.'"
To their surprise, they received a reply the next day. The family decided to bring Hewelt to Vancouver to thank the staff in person. "Grandpa always wanted to come," Basia said. "Once we had this answer from the hospital … of course we wanted to bring him."
A touching reunion
On Tuesday, three generations of the Hewelt family — Benedykt, his sons Marek and Oleg, and granddaughters Basia and Aleksandra — visited St. Paul's. It was three days shy of the 45th anniversary of his admission. Hewelt entered in a wheelchair but walked inside with the help of a cane given to him at the hospital in 1981.
He was met by Providence Health Care CEO Fiona Dalton, whom he thanked "for giving me second life after accident." He apologized for his English, and she smiled, saying, "your English is a lot better than my Polish." Upstairs, he met representatives from several departments that assisted him in 1981. He was in good spirits, switching between Polish and English, and even conversed in German.
A remarkable spirit
Hewelt's resilience is extraordinary. He was off work for nine years after the accident but returned to sea and worked for another decade before retiring. Basia read a story he wrote about his family's struggles during the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II. He was sent to work camps and various sites. "Thank God we survived," he wrote. "The hardships of those years shaped my character. They taught me empathy, respect for others, courtesy, fairness, and perseverance. These values combined with honest work and education helped me build a successful career at sea."
