Frida Salomonsson at the hospital in Umeå in December 1997. At that time, she had a long and difficult road ahead of her. During the first few days, she was even put on a ventilator – mostly as a precaution.
It was on the evening of October 18, 1997, when the accident occurred. Frida Salomonsson, then 15, and some friends were getting a ride home from a class reunion at a cabin outside Norsjö, when the driver lost control of the car on the suddenly icy road.
The car skidded, collided with an oncoming vehicle, went off the road, and crashed into a lamppost.
This is how Norran reported the incident:
All six people involved were taken to the emergency room in Skellefteå. The on-call surgeon states that everyone except the girl sitting farthest to the right in the back seat escaped with minor injuries. The seriously injured girl was transferred to Norrland University Hospital in Umeå.
Frida herself only has vague memories of the actual accident and what happened immediately afterward.
– I remember the car lights and being at some hospital. But I don't have any images, I don't see anything in front of me, she explains.
Frida remembers the time that followed much more clearly.
She spent much of it in training and rehabilitation at the hospital in Umeå. The spinal cord injury she sustained was so severe that she was paralysed from the armpits down.
Her time at the hospital was also followed up in a feature article in Norran:
Those who know Frida say she is strong-willed and positive. She shows this even when Norran "shadows" her for a few hours at the neurorehabilitation department at the University Hospital in Umeå. If she wants shoes on her feet, staff or parents simply do as she wishes. On go the shoes.
Dad Stig and mum Carina visiting Frida at the hospital in Umeå in December 1997. Carina, who sadly passed away from cancer ten years ago, also kept a diary of what happened – something that has been a comforting support and cherished memory for Frida.
Today, Frida notes that the initial period was tumultuous and difficult. Despite being only 15 years old, she also remembers feeling quite grown-up.
– It was just a matter of gritting my teeth and dealing with it. I also felt that I was given a lot of responsibility. The healthcare staff and rehabilitation personnel were there more to show me how, then it was up to me to use the tools.
She was probably in some sort of 15-year-old bubble, and worried mostly about things that teenagers think about:
– It was about maybe not being able to go to school and not having any friends. I never thought about jobs and such things. But as the years went by, I felt more secure in myself, so I didn't feel so worried, but rather quite confident about what I could accomplish.
It seems like you've always had drive and fighting spirit, where does that come from?
– I think it somewhat depends on where you come from and what your general attitude is. If, like me, you've been involved in sports, you're used to losing. I haven't quit every time a match went badly, but instead thought about what I could do better next time. Being solution-focused is probably the best quality I have and something that has been useful to me, says Frida, adding:
– If you get injured and already live in a vulnerable situation, where you have financial difficulties, a poor network of friends and family, and perhaps aren't used to setbacks, it can be tougher. Then you probably have a bit of an uphill battle.
Frida studied the social sciences programme at upper secondary school in Norsjö and graduated in 2001. She then planned to take a gap year before continuing her studies.
After completing upper secondary school, Frida left Norsjö and began taking individual courses at Umeå University. Initially, she intended to pursue journalism, but set those plans aside upon realizing the travel challenges associated with various assignments.
Instead, she pursued training as a social worker. When Frida graduated in 2010, her goal was to work with young people facing addiction. However, that didn't materialize; instead, she started working as a case manager within LSS (Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments).
Frida was cared for at Norrland University Hospital in Umeå after the accident, the same institution where she works today.
After doing that for six years, the idea of becoming a counsellor came up.
– I had never done that before. But I thought it would suit me really well, says Frida.
And so it did. Especially considering the job she ended up in.
Since 2018, Frida has been a health and medical care counsellor at the brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation unit at the hospital in Umeå – the same ward where she was a patient in 1997.
Mum Carina fixes Frida’s hair during a hospital visit in December 1997. In the background are Anette Lidén and classmates Anneli Nygren, Erika Landin and Caroline Eklund.
– I usually say that I’m back at the scene of the crime. Some of my colleagues are the ones who took care of me when I was 15. It’s kind of funny, says Frida, laughing.
Getting a job on the ward where she was once treated was, of course, a big day for Frida.
An even bigger milestone was when she and her partner Simon Wretell became parents to little Albert in September last year.
When Frida Salomonsson and Simon Wretell found out they were expecting a baby, they'd almost felt that the chance had passed them by. But in September last year, Albert was born – to their great joy.
– It has been a life-changing journey in every way. And it still takes time to come to terms with the situation. There’s always something new happening.
Frida says she has always seen herself having children in the future. And the spinal cord injury itself does not affect her ability to get pregnant.
However, it does bring extra physical challenges, both during pregnancy and as a new mother.
For example, she cannot lift Albert. And when he became more active, Frida had trouble feeding him because she could no longer balance the bottle in her hand.
Frida’s spinal cord injury means she is paralysed from the shoulders down, including her arms. She can only move her hands in certain ways, but holding little Albert is, of course, something she doesn’t want to miss out on.
Frida admits that sometimes it can be mentally tough not being able to do everything she wants.
But it has still worked out, largely thanks to Simon taking on a lot of responsibility early on, that both of them were home from the start, and that together they have found various special solutions that work.
And emotionally, there's no difference between Frida and other new mothers:
– It's a bit crazy that you've carried this kid for nine months. And then he comes out, and he's a human with a heart and lungs just like me, but very small. Then he'll learn things, and I'll show him.
Perhaps that slightly unreal feeling is amplified by how long-awaited Albert was.
Frida explains that she and Simon met as recently as 2021 and moved into their villa in Ersmark, Umeå, in 2023. Later that same year, they got engaged, and then Albert arrived the following year.
A swift pace, it might seem, but also necessary. Frida, who turns 43 this autumn, says they had slowly begun to resign themselves to the possibility that they might not become parents.
– We probably thought that ship had sailed. But he was just waiting for the right moment. And it was wonderful, she says.
– Today, Frida works as a counsellor in the same hospital ward in Umeå where she was a patient in 1997. There, she shares her experiences. “I usually tell the patients that it’s something that happens while the coffee water is boiling. It’s not something you plan. You’re pulled out of your everyday life, you wake up in hospital and suddenly everything is different. It’s not easy.”
Overall, Frida seems content with life. Dwelling on what life would have been like if the accident hadn't occurred isn't her way:
– Maybe at first I wondered why. And I think you have to allow yourself to do that. But I haven't dwelled on it. I usually compare my situation to finances; you get this budget, and then you do the best you can with it.
Despite her severe spinal cord injury, Frida manages most things. She even has a driver’s licence and drives a specially adapted car.
She says that life would probably have been easier without what happened. But perhaps not better.
It's impossible to know, and it's also easy to forget that life changes for everyone, Frida reasons:
– Who knows, maybe I would have suffered from depression and mental illness as a teenager? To me, that feels more frightening than not being able to walk.
Many Norsjö residents gathered to congratulate Frida on her graduation in 2001. Moa Karlsson, the young girl in the photograph, is, in fact, Frida's sister-in-law today.
She points out that she has essentially done everything she wanted – lived the student life, gone to pubs, gotten a driver's license, bought an apartment and a house, made mistakes, and changed jobs.
– When I think back, there's hardly anything I've I wanted to do that I haven't. Maybe skydiving. I wanted to do that for a long time, but then I realised I'd break my legs landing. So I decided it probably wasn't such a good idea after all, says Frida with a smile, adding:
– Of course, after my whole life had changed so drastically, I'd like to have known that the future had turned out this well. If I had known that, I would have made the same sacrifice again.