09/14/2026
Our first responders are incredible ♥️
For 28-year-old Okanagan woman Haley Kaufman, saying “thank you” was never enough.
On May 4, 2025, at around 11:45 a.m., Kaufman was travelling with her mother-in-law and infant daughter near Williams Lake, B.C., when a devastating crash changed their lives forever.
A Jeep struck an object in the middle of the highway, crossed the centre line and slammed into their vehicle.
Kaufman suffered bilateral femur fractures and severe internal bleeding. Doctors estimated that, by the time she was airlifted to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, she had only about a 30 per cent chance of survival.
Her infant daughter suffered a serious brain injury and was later diagnosed with multifocal epilepsy and cerebral palsy. She spent approximately two and a half months at BC Children’s Hospital, while Kaufman’s mother-in-law suffered multiple fractures to both wrists and ankles, her pelvis and hip, eventually requiring a hip replacement.
But amid the chaos, Kaufman remembers one person clearly.
An off-duty RCMP officer was the first responder to reach the crash. He opened her door as she desperately tried to get out of the vehicle and reach her daughter.
She remembers him warning her that she could not move.
“You may not be bleeding on the outside, but you’re definitely bleeding on the inside.”
Kaufman says she believes his actions helped keep her alive until the air ambulance arrived.
For the next 18 months, she made it her mission to find every first responder involved that day.
She contacted RCMP detachments, news organizations and other agencies. She sent flowers to the Williams Lake paramedics and a letter and card to the Williams Lake Fire Department.
But the off-duty officer remained a mystery.
Until an online newspaper article finally helped her identify and reach him.
The officer, who has asked to remain anonymous, told Kaufman he had been with the RCMP for 11 years and that she was the first person in his entire career to contact him simply to thank him for doing his job.
He also told her he still remembers the crash very clearly.
For Kaufman, finding him brought an unexpected sense of peace.
She had even written him a handwritten letter while recovering in hospital, keeping it until the day she could finally give it to him.
After everything her family endured, she says she can finally take a deep breath knowing she did everything she could to thank the people who helped keep her family alive.
Sometimes, the people who save our lives never know what happens afterward.
Haley Kaufman made sure they would know her family survived — and that their help was never forgotten.
Source: The Canadian Press
