A Williams Lake woman remains in critical condition at the ICU in Kamloops after a vehicle rollover Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Christine Fernandez was driving home on the Horsefly Road after dropping her daughter off at school when it is suspected she hit black ice, lost control of her vehicle and rolled off the road, her sister Louise Colwell told the Tribune Monday.
"She has been in a coma, but from what we can piece together, we think it happened around 10 a.m.," Colwell said.
Fernandez was thrown 40 feet from her vehicle and lay there in a field for about an hour before someone stopped to see what was going on.
"A lot of people drove past her vehicle and did not know it was a new accident, but the woman that found her is a retired first responder of some kind and she knew to stop because there was no yellow tape on the vehicle," Colwell said. "I guess they put yellow tape on a vehicle once it's been checked over. People thought it was an older accident because they did not see anybody there."
Colwell said if it wasn't for woman who stopped, her sister would be gone, 100 per cent.
"We lucked out because they didn't move her, she flagged cars down, got blankets and stuff because she [Christine] was laying in snow and they were worried about hypothermia."
BC Emergency Health Services arrived about 90 minutes later and transported Fernandez to Cariboo Memorial Hospital and from there she was medivaced to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.
Colwell lives in the Lower Mainland and is at the hospital, along with her other sister from the U.S., their husbands, their parents and Fernandez's daughter as they all keep vigil.
"We have not been able to talk to her, but I think she was talking at the scene and then lost consciousness," Colwell said. "She's been in a coma since."
While at Royal Inland, Fernandez has had multiple surgeries.
Colwell said once they have updates she will provide them but at this time they would like their privacy.
"She cannot have visitors at this point," Colwell said.
Friends and family have been donating toward a GoFundMe and Williams Lake visual artist Brandy Stecyk is auctioning off one of her paintings.
The water colour painting is of a bear charging through the water and is on display at Pixie Hollow Healing. The auction will run until Nov. 24 at midnight.
"Christine is the owner of Colts Barbershop and had herself set up fundraisers to support various community members," Stecyk said.
During the 2017 wildfires Fernandez provided free haircuts for firefighters, military and other wildfire teams and in 2022 she held a fundraiser for a burn victim, who was one of her customers, in Williams Lake.
She grew up in Tsawwassen and moved to Williams Lake about eight years ago.
