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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Seven years ago, a 25-year-old Tommy Lafferty fended off an attacking grizzly bear with his bare hands and was credited with saving the lives of two other men. Today, the 33-year-old father of three is happy to be alive but the scars that remain transcend the telltale marks on his face, scalp, left arm and right leg.

Seven years have passed since Tommy Lafferty, 33, fought back against an attacking grizzly bear. Lafferty, at the time a 25-year-old surveyor checking water levels at the abandoned Colomac mine site, was credited with saving the lives of two co-workers, including his 19-year-old cousin. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

On September 22, 2004, Lafferty, then a surveyor employed with Aboriginal Engineering, headed out in the bush along with co-worker and younger cousin Alex Washie and Derek Faria, an employee with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

The three men were at the site of the abandoned Colomac Mine, about 230 km north of Yellowknife, checking the water levels at Steves Lake.

They had been informed that grizzly bear tracks had been found that morning but were told an elder had been sent to investigate.

The men had walked about 150 metres when the bear ­ the largest grizzly Lafferty had ever seen, he said ­ charged out of the bush and knocked Faria to the ground.

Lafferty told his 19-year-old cousin to run, then turned to see the bear open its jaws, threatening Faria.

He yelled to distract it and soon had its full attention. The grizzly was upon him, tearing the flesh of his right leg above his knee and sending his safety helmet and fold-up knife careening through the air.

What followed was a flurry of bites and punches as Lafferty fought to stay alive.

When all was said and done, the bear had run off and Lafferty lay bleeding on the ground. In an attempt to neutralize the bear's jaws, he had shoved his left arm deep into its mouth but to no avail.

The powerful creature still managed to rip away his bottom lip, tear out a large piece of his skull and shatter part of his left arm.

Doctors told him he would likely spend two to three months in hospital. He was out in 10 days. They said it would likely be a year or two before he could return to work. He was back in the field seven weeks later, he said.

It was not determination but necessity that drove him back so early. "The compensation I was getting daily from (the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission) while I was off work wasn't enough to feed my family," said Lafferty, who is originally from Behchoko but now lives in Yellowknife.

"Like I had to pay rent, I had all the bills and then I had to feed and clothe my family."

Lafferty said Aboriginal Engineering had inexplicably classified him as a seasonal employee despite the fact that he had worked full-time, an error which he believes affected his compensation. The WSCC paid him $50 per day while he was away from work, he said.

Lafferty now receives a monthly pension of $277. The spots where he is scarred, particularly his scalp, are very sensitive, he said. He is constantly biting the scars on the inside of his jaw, which was dislocated and nearly ripped off in the attack. He has chronic headaches and migraines.

"I have a 24-hour headache," he said. "Every day I've got a headache and if it's not a headache it turns into a horrible, horrible migraine Š it's just non-stop."

Lafferty said Yellowknife doctors told him his headaches, migraines and the pain in his neck and shoulder were not attributable to the attack and he believes the WSCC assessed his pension on that basis.

But about a year ago, after attending a traditional sweat lodge in Alberta, Lafferty was hospitalized for what he said was the worst migraine of his life.

For the first time since the bear attack, a doctor at Grey Nuns Community Hospital ordered a CT scan and later told Lafferty that his headaches were connected to the incident. Lafferty said he intends to ask the WSCC to re-assess his pension but has yet to get the proper documentation.

Then there is the emotional fallout. Sometime after the attack, Faria gave Lafferty a book on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Until that point, Lafferty had assumed he was fine and indeed, the symptoms did not kick in right away, but

"As I went through it I started realizing, I'm like, 'wow.' Like even if I didn't think I was having any post-trauma, I have, in little stages. I can function normally but after reading that book I've noticed I have had post-trauma," he said, without elaborating further.

Though PTSD is well-documented in the medical community Lafferty said he preferred the counsel of his father, grandfather or another elder.

"It's more comforting and more beneficial to me to talk to them rather than talking to one of those doctors. Either they say there's nothing wrong with you or else they medicate you. And I'm not one for being medicated," he said.

But all is not grim. Lafferty still hunts and travels into the bush.

He has just become more cautious and conscious of his surroundings. He has a lovely partner in his common-law wife Camille. He now has a third daughter, Hayden, 3, in addition to Kiana, 9, and Alexa, 8.

Hayden adores her father and runs around the house using various ploys to capture his attention. She doesn't seem to notice his scars, having seem them her whole life.

She is preoccupied, rather, with trying to balance a teddy bear on her father's head and cajole him into letting her eat Oreo cake before lunch. His face lights up when she laughs.

Lafferty, who now works for BHP Billiton as a condition monitoring technician trainee, returned from a two-week stint Wednesday afternoon. He left his previous job about a year after the grizzly attack. "I made a lot of money," he said, "but I was never home. One thing I realized after my accident was that I need to be home more."

Hayden pipes up from under the kitchen table, as if on cue, "Thaaaaank you daddy."

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