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“Decals for Dianna and Dwaine” supporting crash victim’s family

Mar 20, 2019 | 5:26 PM

The Red Deer community is rallying in support a local family deeply effect by a critical car crash.

On February 16, Alicia Souveny was involved in a minor collision on a major roadway in Edmonton.

She was exiting her vehicle after the crash when she was struck by an SUV. A 49-year-old man has been charged with careless driving and driving at an unreasonable rate of speed.

Souveny, a physiotherapist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, was rushed to the U of A hospital in critical condition and is facing a long road to recovery.

Her parents, Dianna and Dwaine, have been at the 31-year-old’s side each day since the devastating crash.  

“She is now moved into the trauma unit and is receiving excellent care. She is progressing continuously we are excited because she is starting communication with us and her sense of humor is back,” says Dwaine.

“As you can imagine there are tears and sorrow, but it’s great to see her smiling face and have her talking with us. She is receiving physiotherapy and we are awaiting more surgeries, but they are being planned and we are just so excited about the progress we’ve made so far. One of the doctors we’ve been working with says he has never seen such a miracle as the progress Alicia has made over the past week,” he explained.

A GoFund Me campaign set up in support of Alicia’s recovery has raised nearly $75,000.

On Monday, “Decals for Dianna and Dwaine” was launched by family friend Kareen Lambert to help show the community is standing behind them.

“Dianna and Dwaine are community builders. They do a lot for the community here in Red Deer and both give back non-stop. So, myself and my colleagues decided it was really important to give back,” Lambert explained.

“When you see someone hurting that badly and think about what it would be like for any of us to see our child injured that badly, I can’t even wrap my brain around it. To show some support and love to ease the burden on them just felt appropriate.”

Lambert says her solution to help the family was to approach local businesses and see what they could put together. When she approached Minuteman Press, they immediately got on board and designed and donated decals so there would be noticeable signs of love and support.

The decals which read “#ALICIASTRONG” are being sold for $20 each with all proceeds going directly to the family. They can be purchased at Minuteman Press and Stella Bean Sweets in Red Deer. More information is available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DecalsforDandD

For Dianna and Dwaine, this has been a heart wrenching experience. They’ve expressed their appreciation for all of the support they’ve received and they have also called on the community to help them by donating blood in Alicia’s name.

“When Alicia had the accident she required a lot of blood. More than she had in her body. So what we have been doing, and what Dianna has started and what we really embrace now, is to get people to donate blood. People continue to ask how they can help and while we’ve appreciated all of the support we’ve gotten immensely, but we are asking people who want to help to donate blood in Alicia’s name. We are just encouraging people to do that because it helps so many lives,” says Dwaine.