‘We just want the truth’: A Wasaga mother searches for answers in mystery of daughter’s brain injury

In the early morning hours of Oct. 22, 2019, Amanda Cox veered off the road while riding her ebike on Wasaga Beach's Main Street, colliding with a pole.

In the nearly 10 months since, her mother Elizabeth has been a constant presence at her hospital bedside, even through the COVID-19 pandemic, ever-hopeful that her condition will improve.

But while Elizabeth waits for her daughter's recovery from the traumatic brain injuries she suffered, she also says she has run into a wall of secrecy and conflicting stories from police as to what might have happened to Amanda.

Amanda's accident happened sometime between midnight and 3 a.m.; it was then she was found by two young men who called 911.

County of Simcoe paramedics arrived, and transported her to the Collingwood G & M Hospital; she was subsequently flown to Sunnybrook.

Elizabeth Cox said, as she understands it, police only arrived at the scene after her daughter had been taken away by ambulance.

However, no one - neither police nor the hospital - notified the family, Elizabeth said, and she was unaware for 15 hours that her daughter was fighting for her life.

Huronia West OPP detachment commander Insp. Philip Browne acknowledged there was confusion as to which agency was to notify the family.

According to Elizabeth, one of the young men who found Amanda was so distressed that he reached out later that day to a friend who happened to be Elizabeth's grandniece. That's when the connection was made to Elizabeth, and her niece texted her while Elizabeth and her son Zenon were on their way into a Raptors' game.

It was a one-in-a-million that the boys who found her would have connected with (her grandniece," she said. When I heard airlift', I just about fainted in the lobby of the Scotiabank Arena."

An arena employee assisted her and got them a ride to Sunnybrook.

She doesn't accept the police version of events; that Amanda came off the road on her own.

From police, Elizabeth said she was told that Amanda had been found lying on the ground unconscious, and also was found standing up and coherent.

Elizabeth was told there would be no investigation, only to find there had been; that there was clear video, and the video was so dark that nothing could be seen.

Amanda has since been moved to Michael Garron Hospital, and is managing to breathe without a ventilator for 18 hours a day.

They said she would never breath on her own again. She's a miracle. We almost lost her a couple of times ... at one point they said to call in the family," Elizabeth said. They say she is probably going to survive, but what kind of life she'll have, they're not sure."

Elizabeth said Amanda loved her ebike, and how it allowed the commercial artist to easily get around town. Amanda had recently gone into business for herself, Elizabeth said, and had a full queue" of clients.

She always rode with a helmet, a promise Amanda had made to her grandmother. The ebike is now sitting in Elizabeth's garage, but the helmet is missing.

Browne said he has reviewed the case in light of a recent social media post.

There is a lot of speculation ... (but) there is no basis at all for it," Browne said, noting he was unable to offer much comment given issues of privacy.

Browne said there was an investigation, and video evidence showed Amanda riding into a pole.

He also maintained Amanda's helmet is not in police possession.

Elizabeth remains unconvinced at the answers she is being given by police.

If it was an accident involving another vehicle, if someone came forward to acknowledge and apologize, Elizabeth said she would be grateful. Zenon has since put up posters around the community, asking for information that might shed light on what happened to Amanda.

It is so strange that nobody in Wasaga Beach ... everybody knows me, there's not many Cox's in Wasaga Beach, and I'm not hard to find," she said. Why does no one know about my daughter's accident?

We just want the truth. We just want to know what happened."

STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Reporter Ian Adams came across a poster asking for information on what happened to Amanda Cox, and through social media was able to connect with her mother.