The daughter of a victim of the 2013 Lac-Mégantic train derailment fled the city after the tragedy and plunged into drug hell in an attempt at “self-destructive survival” before finding a zest for life again years later.
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“I knew it wouldn’t be my whole life. But I told myself I needed it to keep from hanging myself. I had to erase my reality,” says Mégane Turcotte, who she met in Beauce almost ten years after the Saint-Georges tragedy.
On July 6, 2013, his mother, Diane Bizier, went to the Musi-Café in Lac-Mégantic, as she did almost every weekend, to meet up with friends. She was with her husband, who had left earlier that evening.
Diane Bizier, Mégane Turcotte’s mother, died in the Lac-Mégantic tragedy on July 6, 2013. Photo courtesy of Mégane Turcotte
For her part, Mégane Turcotte fell asleep around midnight after babysitting the children of the Musi-Café’s then-owner. But she woke up hours later to hear conversations outside and saw that it was “bright as day”.
“When I came out, I saw my brother talking to his girlfriend. I asked her what was going on. Her look said it all…” says Ms. Turcotte emotionally.
That’s when she learned that downtown was on fire and her mother was nowhere to be found.
descent into hell
“Deep down, I felt like I would never see my mother again, even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself. Even today it’s as if I never really realized what happened to us,” says the young woman, now 27 years old.
What followed was a veritable descent into hell for Mégane Turcotte, who began using cannabis and cocaine in ever-increasing amounts to “suppress her feelings”.
Mégane Turcotte has a lust for life again after seeing one of her relatives end his life. DIDIER DEBUSSCISSORS/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
It was also during this time that she fled the town of her childhood “disfigured and saddened,” began dating a man who quickly became toxic and violent, and toyed with the idea of taking his own life.
“I wasn’t ready to face the loss of my mother, it hurt so bad inside, constantly. And I was afraid that another event would happen and take away my loved ones one by one,” explains Ms Turcotte.
An “urgency” to live
A few years later, one of his work colleagues ended his life after suffering a heartbreak. That’s when she realized she had a life ahead of her and wanted to be happy.
“It gave me a slap in the face, I felt the urge to live. I began to see everything the future could offer me,” says the young woman, who sought help to take back control of her life and break free from her toxic association.
Ms. Turcotte has decided to look ahead and is currently completing a DEP in Computer Support. She even plans to take video game programming courses at university afterward.
This is one of the last photos of Diane Bizier and her daughter Mégane Turcotte, taken at the latter’s prom, a few weeks before the tragedy. Photo courtesy of Mégane Turcotte
However, ten years later, the pain associated with the town of Lac-Mégantic is still too great for the young woman to contemplate one day settling there.
“But it is important that we remember this tragedy. For my mother and all the other victims who didn’t ask for anything. For my part, I know that she has her eye on me,” she concludes.
Mégane Turcotte is due to release a book called Mortal Love next October, which will focus on her vision of the years following the Lac-Mégantic train derailment and the impact the tragedy had on her life.