Remembering her dad on Day of Mourning

Special to Ontario Construction News

Marleen Pitruzzella was just 11 years old when one day her dad, her hero, didnโ€™t come home from work.

It was July 13, 2009, and Leo Pitruzzella was a construction worker with a paving company. He was helping to direct a dump truck when it crushed and killed him.

Marleen and her brother waited every day for their dad to come home from work and play with them. But that night a police officer came to the door instead.

โ€œTo this day I will never forget the feeling of what seemed like my heart dropping in my chest,โ€ Marleen says. โ€œMy younger brother and I would spend the next weeks and years trying to cope with the fact that our hero would never be returning home, and our family would never be complete again.โ€

Leoโ€™s death was entirely preventable, Marleen says, and that knowledge added to the familyโ€™s grief. Today Marleen is a volunteer with Threads of Life โ€“ the Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support. She shares her personal experience as part of the organizationโ€™s speakersโ€™ bureau.

Threads of Life is a national Canadian charity which supports people whoโ€™ve experienced a work-related serious injury, occupational disease or death in their family. The organization offers peer support, opportunities to learn new coping skills, and a network of families who share their experiences and help one another to feel less alone.

Every year in Canada roughly 1,000 families get the same devastating news Marleenโ€™s family received โ€“ that a loved one wonโ€™t be coming home due to a traumatic work-related injury or an occupational disease. Thousands more are seriously injured on the job.

For those affected by a workplace tragedy, the journey of grief is full of important dates and milestones. Most of these are intensely personal. Thereโ€™s the date of the tragedy itself; the birthdays that wonโ€™t be celebrated; the wedding that a loved one couldnโ€™t attend.

But there is a date they all have in common: National Day of Mourning on April 28. Day of Mourning is a time set aside to remember and honour all those like Leo Pitruzzella, who are killed or injured on the job in Canada. For Marleen and many others, it means a lot to know they are supported by individuals and businesses who also observe this day.

The COVID-19 pandemic means in-person ceremonies and events for Day of Mourning arenโ€™t possible. Many organizations are holding virtual events instead. Threads of Life will post a candle-lighting ceremony today. Marleen and others have also shared their stories as part of a video series.

For those like Marleen who have experienced a workplace tragedy, time passes but their lives are changed forever.

โ€œIt is the smaller events in my life when I miss him the most,โ€ she says. โ€œBut I know him and that contagious smile of his are looking down on my mom, my brother and me every day. I will forever strive to be half the person he was and continue to do great things in his honour.โ€

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