Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is happy to be alive after a horrendous car accident last Friday night near Hope, but it will be months before he makes a full recovery.

Phillip remains hospitalized at Penticton Regional Hospital with injuries including a fractured and chipped right ankle, a cracked left knee cap and fractured tibia on the left side and a cracked sternum.

“I am incredibly busy and mobile, so to be lying here in this bed unable to continue my work is really frustrating,” he said. “At the same time I am so grateful to still be here and also greatly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from so many different people.”

Phillip was driving home from Vancouver to Penticton on Highway 3, when the accident took place 24 kilometres east of Hope.

He was returning from attending the 23rd annual Women’s Memorial March and readying to celebrate Valentine’s Day with his wife Joan Phillip.

“I was looking forward to the weekend, to Valentine’s dinner with Joan when I hit black ice,” he said. “It was over in a heartbeat, I hit the rocks and there was no opportunity to slow down before the very harsh and brutal impact.”

From Castanet