STARS thanked with donation at wedding
After they saved her life in 2014, Jillian Easton invites STARS to her wedding and makes donation on behalf of her family and guests
January 13, 2025, 4:56 pm
Kara Kinna
irlifted her to the Regina General Hospital, Rocanville bride Jillian Easton made a point of inviting STARS Air Ambulance to her wedding on August 17, 2024, making a donation to them, and publicly thanking them for saving her life.
“On June 25, 2014 I was involved in a very serious motor vehicle accident and I was flown by STARS from Moosomin to Regina,” says Jillian.
Jillian was hit by a semi on the Trans-Canada Highway at Moosomin, and says her injuries were so severe that her doctors did not know if she would recover.
“If it wasn’t for STARS, I would not have had the medical attention I needed and the quick service and getting me from point A to point B, and if it was not for them I would not be here today,” she says.
“My doctors, they said that anybody that has come through those doors in that type of accident and those injuries—they have never seen anybody either come out alive or have a complete recovery.”
Jillian was in a coma when STARS picked her up and has no memory of the flight, but says she knew she wanted to do something to thank STARS for saving her life.
“When I was going through our wedding planning process, I wanted our wedding to be ours, and I wanted it to be unique and be about us, so I was a bit of a bride-zilla,” she says. “I knew not many of our guests knew that I was in a very serious motor vehicle accident. And so I always wanted to give back to STARS and to just say thank you for saving my life, I wouldn’t be here without you.”
The wedding took place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in New Finland, Sask, and the reception took place at the Nutrien Rocanville Community Hall in Rocanville.
“I am a STARS VIP, so we’ve done a few photoshoots for STARS and promotions and advertisements, but I just didn’t think that was enough and so I wanted to include them in our wedding because it was a huge part of my life and I wanted to donate,” says Jillian. “So we did our party favors. Instead of traditional wedding favors, we made a $1,200 donation to STARS on behalf of all our guests.
“I donated under $1,000 not long after the accident in 2014 to STARS. I knew that I wanted to donate over $1,000 to get my/our name on a STARS ‘big cheque’ that hangs at the STARS base in Regina. That also inspired me to work towards contributing a larger donation to STARS with our wedding party favours, instead of having traditional ones.”
Jillian said it felt good to be able to give back to STARS at her wedding.
“It felt incredible. It felt like a little lump sum because they saved my life and I wouldn’t be here without them, but it felt huge that we were able to do that.
“We had a STARS crew member come to our wedding. He had a big cheque there with the donation on it, and my maid of honor introduced the crew member and told my story about how STARS saved my life, and I remember when she was doing the speech, the whole floor was silent. You could hear a pin drop, and you could see jaws drop.”
She says many people don’t understand how crucial the STARS air ambulance service is.
“It’s something I never thought I’d use and it’s something you just never know, it could be your neighbor, it could be your parents, it could be your best friend, but you just never know when you are going to need it, and they are always there.
“We were in the STARS calendar one year and have done photoshoots for them and advertisements. I’ve met my flight crew and when my oldest son was younger, we’d go to the STARS base all the time and do a tour. I always liked to show the kids the helicopter that saved me.
“That doesn’t happen every day that a surviving patient can come back.”
A special night for STARS
Darren Entner is a Clinical Operations Manager with STARS, and the one who was invited to Jillian’s wedding.
“We transported Jillian many, many years ago. I actually had the opportunity to take care of her dad as well when he had his medical issues as well when he was in Regina, so I’ve known the Easton family for quite some time,” he says.
“I was incredibly honored that she would even think of us. We’ve crossed paths with the Easton family many times since that initial meeting with her and her family. And we’ve crossed paths in many different venues. And when she reached out and asked if we would be able to come to her wedding, I actually had to switch a shift so I could go, but I was very honored that they would think of us, and to not only be willing to donate some of their funds from their wedding, but also just to invite us as well. It was just an honor to be there.
“Each one of our patients that we fly, we call the VIPs, or very important patients. And there are some that become more than just the patient that we flew. And we always encourage patients to come back and meet their crew who flew them and see the aircraft, because often when we fly them, the people aren’t aware that they had been in a helicopter. And sometimes that’s very nice for us in the health care profession as well. Sometimes it provides closure, or feedback to see how they’ve done. It’s very nice for us to see those patients and I feel that the patients get a lot out of it as well.”
“We meet people most times on their worst days, so then to be able to put some of the pieces together and see what happened is nice, and we can explain to them not only how the aircraft works and how we would get to their certain incident. That can actually help the patient a lot and provide them with some closure.
“It’s incredibly rewarding, it’s one of the best parts of our job, to see the fruits of our labor, the work that we put in on a day-to-day basis with our education and constant training. And to provide those patients with their best chance on their worst day and then see somebody who was incredibly sick or had potential to not do so well, and then we can go out and bring that experience, training and high level of care to a patient in all parts of Saskatchewan, not just in the major centres—it’s pretty rewarding to have them come back with their families.
“Jillian is an excellent example of that. Now you see her with her two sons and getting married. And I remember her as a young girl coming in and being so thankful to see us, and now she has a wonderful family.
“It was a pretty neat full circle moment. Because I distinctly remember the first time we met Jillian and her family. We have an annual Saskatchewan versus Manitoba hockey game and the first time we met them, we met them in Moosomin. We were driving through and stopped for supper and I think either she saw that we had some STARS gear and her mom or dad came over and asked if we were from STARS and we were able to explain that we were there and flew her, and that was the start of our relationship and we’ve had a great one ever since.”
Entner says he does not recall anyone with STARS ever being invited to a wedding of a STARS patient before.
“In my 12 years of being here, I think that is the first one that I’ve personally attended. It was cool to be invited and cool to be there. It was a great night. It was nice, I got to sit with the Easton family. I honestly felt like it was just a very special, special night for a lot of people, and me being one of them. It was great to be there and feel very honored how well they spoke about us. It was a great, great night.”
