West Kelowna

David Harris is 'Totally Overwhelmed' with the assistance he and his wife Susan received from complete strangers and the medical community after their car tumbled down an embankment on Gellatly Road Wednesday morning.

Photo: Kelly Hayes - Castanet

Fire fighters remove Susan Harris from the scene of a horrific crash on Gellatly Road Wednesday

Harris, 57, and his wife were driving down the icy road about 9:30 a.m. to take possession of temporary housing. They are re-locating to the Central Okanagan from Alberta.

He says he met his wife in Kelowna and they were married here 31 years ago. "It's like we're coming back home."

"I counted about 20 people during the day who were just unreal; from the emergency guys and the ambulance attendants. Everybody was so professional and very sensitive," says Harris.

"At the hospital they were the same. People just really got involved to help us. It's not just that we weren't killed, it was what happened during the whole day."

Harris, who says he has never been involved in an accident before Wednesday, says he had to use everything he's ever learned when he started to go out of control.

"And, it was sheer ice."

He says he fishtailed and somehow was able to negotiate a corner before finally losing control, going off the road and over the embankment.

The car ended up on its roof at the bottom of the gully.

"There was a guy, I think his name was Chris, that showed up like two minutes after the accident. We were way down there so we wondered if anybody was going to see us," added Harris.

"We were amazed. He stayed with us all the way into the 911 call."

Harris says Dennis, whom he met the previous day and had arranged temporary accommodations for he and his wife, went above and beyond.

Dennis was coming down the same road to give the couple the keys to their new place when the ambulance went by.

"He was on the embankment overseeing things for the whole two or three hours as we went to hospital," added Harris.

"He went down the gully and picked up all of my business stuff. By the time we got to our place all of the stuff was there."

Harris says they are thankful to be alive, thanks to the assistance of others.

"The whole day was spent with people helping us. We have strong faith and as soon as we knew we were okay we were praying all the way through."

"We received a miracle."