Kaleb Dahlgren details his recovery after Humboldt Broncos tragedy

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For Kaleb Dahlgren, it was a bus ride like so many. A day like others. As the Humboldt Broncos hockey team travelled the backroads of Saskatchewan on their way to a playoff game on April 6, 2018, bad jokes were told. Cards were played. Trash talk was exchanged, followed by lots of laughter.

Dahlgren, the Broncos’ 20-year-old assistant captain, changed from his track suit into dress clothes as Nipawin, the site of the game, drew near. Then he relaxed in his seat, closed his eyes, put in his ear buds and listened to music.

That is the last thing he remembers from the day 16 teammates died and he and 12 other passengers were injured in a horrific crash that saddened millions. Nearly three years later, as a tribute, hockey sticks still stand outside people’s doors.

For four days, Dahlgren drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time he awoke, he asked his parents who won. They told him there had been an accident – and the game was never played. Then he would sleep some more, and ask again.

“I’ve never had a blackout, but that is how I would describe it,” he says on Sunday from his home in Saskatoon. He is bright and cheerful and abounds with positivity.

On Tuesday, the memoir he wrote in collaboration with author Dan Robson will become available in stores. Called Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco, It is published by HarperCollins Canada. For some it will be difficult to read.

It details the challenges Dahlgren has faced, from dealing with type 1 diabetes to his father’s near-death from a serious illness to the collision he is unable to recall. The motor coach carrying the team was T-boned by a tractor-trailer, which ran through a stop sign. The transport truck’s driver was sentenced to eight years in jail.

The victims included 10 players between 16 and 21 years old, two coaches, an athletic trainer, a play-by-play announcer, a volunteer statistician and the bus driver. Dahlgren suffered a fractured skull, a puncture wound in his head, a brain injury and six broken vertebrae in his neck and back.

In the hospital, he had the number 5C imprinted above his left eye. He was seated near the rear of the vehicle but was launched to the front by the impact and struck the back of a seat or overhead compartment so violently that it left the mark

Scans showed that Dahlgren sustained 13 brain hemorrhages, which effectively ended his hockey career.

His parents, Mark and Anita, are nurses. They were eating dinner at a diner in Nipawin when police cars, firetrucks and ambulances roared past.

“That must be quite an accident,” they thought. Then a customer came in and said there had been a terrible bus crash. The Dahlgrens raced out of the diner so quickly they can’t remember if they even paid. They followed emergency vehicles to the site, and volunteered to help. A responder learned their son had been on board and told them they best not.

As they watched from a distance, bodies were laid on the ground side by side, and sheets were pulled over them. It was hours before they learned Kaleb survived. His has been a long recovery, and the book, written over six months, documents that.

“I grew up thinking I would never write a book,” Dahlgren says. “I never thought I could call myself an author. I don’t think it will sink in until I walk in and see it in a book store.”

He has done many speaking engagements because of his type 1 diabetes. He has spent his entire life monitoring his blood sugar levels, and founded a charity called Dahlgren’s Diabeauties, which supports children with the disease.

Yet he rejected initial suggestions that he should pen his story.

“I didn’t feel comfortable,” Dahlgren says. “I wanted to be respectful to the families, and I didn’t know if I was ready. I had a lot on my plate, and didn’t know if the world was ready, either.”

Shortly after the accident, he committed to play hockey at York University in Toronto. He was offered a scholarship, even though it was unknown if he would ever be able to play. As it turned out, his brain injury is too severe. He practised with the team, but it was too dangerous to participate in a game.

He decided to write a book after a professor at York offered up some advice one day. He told Dahlgren that the only way a person can make a difference in the world was by doing something themselves.

“It really hit home with me,” Dahlgren says.

He and Robson began to work together.

“It was emotionally challenging to relive everything I have gone through,” Dahlgren says. “I found so much strength in allowing myself to be vulnerable that it was kind of cathartic. I have healed through it.

“It was a risk but I decided why not do it if my story can possibly help anyone. That is what I want.”

By interviewing others, he has been able to put together pieces of what happened that he does not recall.

“It opened my eyes about the four days I don’t remember,” Dahlgren says. “I think it was more challenging for my parents and people with me because I was curious. It definitely wasn’t easy either.

“I remember finally waking up in the hospital and beginning to understand what happened and feeling the emotions going through me. It was quite difficult. Eventually I got to the point where I realized it was okay for me not to be okay.”

The two chapters that were the most difficult for him were one about the crash, and another where he memorializes his friends and teammates.

“That was super, super hard,” he says.

He is 23 now and finishing courses at York online from Saskatoon because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is applying next to attend school in Ontario to become a chiropractor. He is thankful to his parents, who he says have provided a support system and taught him to be resilient.

“They raised me to be the man I am,” Dahlgren says. “I am grateful to be here every day no matter what. I have always had a smile on my face, not just after the accident but before it as well.

“When I was in the hospital, I tried to be positive. I was still breathing.”