Just weeks after Steve Yorke proposed to his girlfriend, the 34-year-old’s life changed in a very different way.

The Vancouver resident, who works as a web developer, was walking home on Seymour Street last Monday when he was blindsided in a brutal single-vehicle crash. The collision claimed the lives of two seniors and put Yorke and two other pedestrians in hospital.

“I have this flash memory of a white SUV coming up over the curb,” he told CTV News. “After that, I remember nothing until I woke up.”

From what Yorke’s been told, he wasn’t struck by the vehicle directly. The SUV hit a tree, downing it and sending the trunk slamming into his body.

“I was blown out of my shoes,” Yorke said, pointing to the scrapes on his feet.

The injuries he sustained are serious: his Achilles tendon was severed in two places, his pelvis was fractured in three places, his right femur snapped in half and his tibia, in Yorke’s words, “split down the middle, kind of like a tree struck by lightning.”

But despite all the hardship, Yorke said he’s still trying to look on the bright side.

“I try and take pleasure in the small victories,” he said from his hospital bed. “You know, today I was able to wiggle my toes easier than I could yesterday. So that means I’m getting better.”

It also helps to have his fiancée, Kristy McLeod, who has been by his side in hospital every day since the accident. The couple got engaged in early August back in Nova Scotia, where they’re both from, at a scenic waterfront spot near a lighthouse.

They planned to get married next summer in Pictou County, and they intend to stick to that goal, though the road to get there will be much more difficult than they were expecting.

“I know long term, I’ll get my mobility back,” Yorke said. “In kind of the short term… my life is going to be very different. I’ll be in a wheelchair for a few months, I’ll be on crutches for a few months, I’ll probably have a cane for a few months.”

The accident is also putting a strain on the couple’s finances. Yorke works on contract, which means he has no extended health benefits to help him through the recovery process.

Friends have set up an online fundraiser to help the couple through his rehabilitation, and nearly $12,000 had been raised by Wednesday afternoon.

But even before those donations started pouring in, Yorke said the crash taught him an eye-opening lesson about the kindness of strangers.

When he first regained consciousness at the accident scene, he was on the concrete surrounded by a small handful of people who were stabilizing his neck and trying to keep him calm as they explained what was happening.

Yorke said he knew it was serious when he noticed everyone was using his full name, Stephen.

“I go by Steve, but my driver’s licence says Stephen. And they’re all calling me Stephen. And I was like, aw, this is bad.”

But looking back, Yorke said the care he received from bystanders gave him a newfound appreciation for living in a bustling city like Vancouver.

“You know, it’s a big city and you don’t necessarily know the people you pass by on the road. But when something horrible happened to me, those strangers that I see on the street came to help,” he said.

Police are still investigating the cause of the collision, which killed the 68-year-old driver, Matthew Ma, and his 70-year-old wife, Melissa. Investigators said speed appears to be a factor, but it’s possible an underlying medical issue contributed to the accident.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim