The gripping and inspiring story of Pat Henman’s courageous battle to overcome life-threatening injuries sustained in a head-on collision with a drunk driver will be on stage in the West Kootenay on March 30 and April 6.
In June 2013, Henman was driving home to Nelson from Calgary with her 19-year-old daughter Maia when their vehicle was struck on an East Kootenay highway in a horrific crash caused by a drunk driver. Working in Selkirk College’s Marketing & Communications Department at the time of the crash, Henman was flown to Calgary where she was revived four times and her family was told to prepare for the worst.
Both mother and daughter spent months in the hospital recovering and undergoing major surgery with Pat having 19 surgeries in the first week alone and Maia left permanently disabled. The entire family was forced into a long and painful struggle that lasts until today.
Through the trauma, Henman found the courage to survive. In February 2021, Henman released her memoir, Beyond the Legal Limit: Surviving a Collision with a Drunk Driver. An honest and heart wrenching book, it’s also full of inspiring grit and community support that helped her through the most difficult time.
“It was while in hospital in Calgary that Maia and I received a gift from members of Selkirk College, where I worked,” Henman writes. “It was the gift of one thousand cranes. Many of the folded origami cranes had a written message, random notes of love and inspiration. Some of the cranes were made from sheet music, created by my choir friends. At the time I wasn’t reading yet, so Maia read them to me: one by one.”
A veteran musician and actor, Henman is now bringing her story to the stage with a one-woman play based on her memoir. The play features local musicians Rachel DeShon and Robyn Lamb and is currently touring a number of communities in the Kootenay region during March and April.
- The Langham, Kaslo
March 30, 7 pm
Tickets are $20 and available at Sunnyside Naturals or Willow Home Gallery in Kaslo. - Taghum Community Hall, Taghum
April 6, 7:30 pm
Tickets are $20 and available at Otter Books and Taghum Shell.
Get more information on tickets and venues.
Photography by Electrify Photography