STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — Lenny Tiller's life was changed forever by impaired driving and “one flip of a car.”
Addressing a Bay St. George MADD Vigil on Thursday evening at Stephenville High School, he told his heart-wrenching story of how, on Oct. 28, 1993, his father Dwain (who wasn’t drinking) made the conscious decision to go for a drive with a friend who was impaired.
His friend was speeding and despite pleas from passengers there was no slowing down. The vehicle swerved, went over a cliff in Campbell’s Creek on the Port au Port Peninsula and the car flipped.
“Who knew one call from the hospital could have so much impact?” Tiller said.
The call to his grandmother, Lenora Tiller, let her know her son had been in a terrible accident and airlifted to St. John’s.
After months in hospital there, Dwain was sent back to Stephenville, the family believed, to die. After a couple more months in a coma, he awoke, but with major physical damage. He is now a quadriplegic.
At three years old when the accident happened, Tiller didn’t understand the impact until he started school, and his classmates asked why his dad wasn’t around.
He said, thankfully, he and his sister Shirley had a loving and supportive family including his mom Deanna and grandparents Charles and Lenora Tiller.
It was his grandparents’ life that changed the most. His grandfather, retired only six months when the accident happened, had to quash plans for a quiet retirement and instead deal with lawyers, hospital bills and questions of how to care for their son and protect his family.
“Life was not always easy,” Tiller said.
The accident led to the eventual breakdown of his parents’ marriage, custody battles, infighting and family division.
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“There were times things would get so bad there was uncertainty where we would be one day to the next,” Tiller said. “Things worked themselves out as the years went on.
“We never had much and what we did have, we worked hard for.”
Tiller said although his father was alive and lived close, his condition meant he and Shirley grew up without Dwain playing his role as dad. That's where his grandfather stepped in.
“I owe my grandfather everything. He stepped up when he could have walked away and lived his retirement,” Tiller said.
He said his nan played the role of mother when his mother couldn’t, raising her grandchildren after raising six kids of her own.
Tiller said her heart is as big as the sun and no matter how big the problem, she is there to comfort and encourage.
“She taught me what a mother’s love was,” he said.
Tiller also had high praise for his mom, whose life changed drastically after the accident but she never let her children know.
He said his dad is a wonderful man who made a mistake of getting in a car with an impaired driver, going from a young man in his prime to fighting for his life, from being independent to depending on others.
“Dad lives in his own place with full-time care, has volunteered with MADD Canada and told his story,” he said.
He said he was blessed to have a stepfather, John Smith, come along as well.
Tiller said not only has his family survived but has been successful. He’s a provincial curling champion, a coach, a business graduate and is currently working on a Community Studies diploma.
Shirley is a college graduate, a step-mother, a fiancée and a general manager of a large hotel chain in British Columbia.
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