'Long road ahead' for survivor of 43-metre Ambassador Bridge fall
Joshua Rene, whose father died after falling from the bridge in 2000, says the incident was 'shocking'
The Canadian who fell 43 metres from the Ambassador Bridge on Wednesday says he has "a long road ahead."
Spencer Baker told CBC News, "I'm doing as best I can at the moment."
Baker, employed by AC Metal in Oldcastle, Ont., fell into the Detroit River while working on the bridge.
He was released from hospital in Detroit on Thursday but didn't specify his injuries.
The company declined to comment when reached by CBC News Friday afternoon.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating but cannot comment.
He was scooped from the water within minutes, as onlookers watched him fall and a nearby boat, the J.W. Westcott, sped off to locate him and pull him from the river.
Officials have called it a miracle he survived the fall.
'Do something': Son of worker killed in Ambassador Bridge fall 23 years ago
Joshua Rene is the son of Jamie Barker, a worker who died in a similar fall in 2000.
Just 10 years old at the time of his father's death, Rene said this week's news brought back bad memories.
"It was definitely shocking, right? Because I think you almost don't expect it, because you don't want it to happen again," Rene said. "It's definitely brought back a lot of emotions that you think that maybe you're over."
Rene, who now volunteers as a speaker with Threads of Life, which supports families in the wake of workplace deaths, said he was "devastated" to hear the news and is thankful Baker is going to survive.
"[I'm feeling] a lot of anger, a lot of anger and some disappointment. You know, you don't want to see anybody go through what we went through again … Because one is enough, right? When are families going to stop getting phone calls saying something happened to their loved one at work.".
Years later, Rene spoke out about his father's story in 2012 when another worker, Kent Morton, also died in a fall from the bridge.
"I was only 10 when I lost my dad. It was like re-experiencing and also experiencing for the first time [when Morton died]," Rene said.
"It was that point that I decided to take my dad's story to a wider amount of people because I feel like if I can make one person hear it and hear me and ask questions and it saves one person — then my dad didn't die in vain."
Rene said his family is still in touch with Morton's, and the two have been invaluable support to each other over the years.
After Barker's death, Rene said a coroner's inquest made 50 recommendations to prevent future deaths.
"It keeps happening, right? So clearly something is still not working, something is still not happening that needs to happen, whether it be one of those fifty recommendations or something completely," Rene said.
"People need to go home from work to their families. I'm not an expert in the field of health and safety. I'm just somebody who lost somebody that I cared about to a preventable workplace tragedy.
"Do something."
With files from Dale Molnar