He Survived the Impossible… Only to Be Trapped by the People Meant to Protect Him

Telford Richard Watchel was born July 6, 1981.

He is a survivor. A miracle. A man who should be celebrated every single day for the odds he’s overcome.

But instead… he’s spent the last 20 years fighting to be seen. Fighting to be heard. Fighting to be free.

And we’re here to tell his story the one no one else will.

🚨 The Night Everything Changed

On August 20, 2005, Richard was in the backseat of a car driven by someone under the influence.

There were three people inside. Only two would survive.The car flipped. Over and over.
Richard was thrown through the sunroof 50 metres into a farmer’s field. The driver was killed instantly.  The woman in the front seat was found in the road.
And Richard… was almost forgotten entirely. 
When emergency crews arrived, they didn’t see him. 
It took a STARS Air Ambulance pilot flying overhead to radio in and say, “There’s another body in the field.” 
That’s when they finally found him. Barely alive. Heart stopped. Bones broken. Skull fractured. He was flown to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.
Severe frontal lobe brain injury 
Broken jaw. Broken neck. Broken ribs. Fractured spine. 
And a medically induced coma for five long, terrifying weeks 
But… he survived.
He clawed his way back from nothing.He completed a year of rehab. 
Got his driver’s license back. 
Lived on his own. 
Laughed again. 
Loved again. 
He was rebuilding his life when we met in 2009. And yes I fell in love the moment he asked me:“You wanna stroke my wiener?”
(Spoiler alert: it was a miniature dachshund puppy.)

❤️ We Were Good. Until We Weren’t.

We moved in together in 2010. Despite his injuries, he lived independently  no girlfriend or mom needed to babysit him. We had love. Routine. A life.

But that life had a leash A leash that never stopped tightening. See, after his accident, someone else was given legal guardianship and control over Richard’s finances, health, and future It was supposed to be temporary.

It became a prison.

For years, that control was used to deny him things he wanted. Things that made him feel human.  He couldn’t update his will. He couldn’t claim me as a partner on his taxes. He couldn’t get married. He couldn’t sell his home in Hinton when he wanted to move to be with current wife who lived in Edson… His guardian knew he wanted to sell his condo so desperately that she convinced him to move to southern Alberta (away from his and kids. Close to her) Richard wanted to sell the condo so bad he wasn’t thinking right and his guardian has him all twisted, with court approval the condo sold BUT he wasn’t told he was taking a $50,000 loss on the sale. He didn’t find that out for years!! 

He couldn’t choose how to spend his own money. He wasn’t allowed to go on vacation, even with his own savings. If he questioned anything, he was told he’d “lose everything.”
If he tried to assert himself, the guilt trips would start. And if I spoke up for him? I became the villain in the story more so then I already am. I have been a threat since day 1! 

I have been called a scammer. A con artist. The manipulative brainwashing woman who “stole her son.” I have been called mean terrible things to my face, behind my back and even to my husband in hopes of breaking us up!

But all I ever did was love him  and show him the truth. The truth about the laws that were supposed to protect him,  not control him.

I know what this kind of control looks like.

I’ve lived it. I survived a man I believe to be a covert malignant narcissist the father of my sons. And while Richard’s situation was different, the pattern was all too familiar 😞Gaslighting. Emotional manipulation. Rewriting reality to make us look like the abusers. 
The only difference? 

This time, the law backed them up.

🕯 Why We’re Telling This Story Now

The last 6½ years have been some of the hardest of my life. And I say that as a mother who lost her son.

Losing Richard’s dad in 2024 shattered him. The house and town we live has became a reminder of everything we’d lost. It was a Constant reminder of the grief, Richard felt deep within losing his dad. So we went and sat down and spoke with his mom, and Richard tried to express how he felt. We asked to sell it. Start fresh. Build a life on our terms. The answer he got shocked me When Richard told his guardian, he was not happy and struggling and her reply was “I don’t care.” And that response so cold, so dismissive broke something in Richard.

He realized he wasn’t being cared for.

He was being controlled.

We’re scared to speak out, because we’ve seen how good some people are at playing the victim while painting us as the monsters.

We’ve been threatened.

Dismissed.

Disbelieved.
But we’re doing this anyway.

Because this isn’t just about Richard anymore.

It’s about every adult under guardianship who’s being silenced.

Every partner being shut out.

Every person whose trauma is used against them to make them look unstable.

🛡 What We’re Fighting For: 

Richard’s Law

We’re proposing a simple but powerful change to the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act in Alberta:

Mandatory in-person wellness check-ins every 2 years by a government representative and not just with the guardian and trustee but with dependent adult and their partner or spouse too is applicable. 

Because if someone had asked me or Richard what was really going on, years ago?

This would’ve come to light a long time ago. This law could protect thousands of vulnerable people.
It could stop abusive control from being hidden behind legal paperwork. 
It could give spouses the people who share daily life with dependent adults a voice in the process.

✍️ Why We Need Your Help

To make a law like this a reality, we need thousands of signatures.

And we can’t do it alone.

Richard is finally getting his capacity reassessed  by a doctor he trusts.
We’re preparing court filings. 
We’re gathering our evidence. 
We’re telling our story.

And we’re asking you to stand with us because we know we’re not the only ones.
We know there are other Richards out there. And if this law passes, they might never have to go through what he did.

Please sign.

Please share.

Please help us give vulnerable adults the voice and the freedom they deserve.