'My whole life flashed before my eyes': Young father recounts fall from Ambassador Bridge

What started as a normal workday for Spencer Baker took a perilous turn Wednesday afternoon, when the 27-year-old father fell from the Ambassador Bridge into the Detroit River below.

“I was just thinking this is it, man, my life is over,” he recounts of his nearly 150-foot fall.Workers on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

“I’m never going to see my daughter again. My fiancée. My whole life flashed before my eyes.”

Baker is a structural ironworker.

He’s part of a team replacing the suspension cables that hold up the bridge.

He doesn’t want to comment on too much about what was going on before he fell, as an investigation has been launched, but says he was “doing everything I needed to do, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.”

CTV News reached out to Baker’s employer, who declined to comment because of the investigation into the accident.Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

Harbour Master Peter Berry said Thursday in his 14 years on the job he’s never seen someone fall from the bridge and survive.

Baker is considered to be extremely lucky, but fast-acting bystanders are credited with rescuing him.

“I remember being in the water and trying to keep my head up on my back,” he says.

“And then I just remember hearing the people on the boat saying ‘we’re coming, we’re coming.’”

Detroit Fire officials say people fishing nearby were able to point Baker out to the captain of a nearby mailboat, who rushed to his aid.

Baker was pulled aboard and rushed to hospital.A Canadian man in his 20s is recovering after falling from the Ambassador Bridge on July 12, 2023. (Source: Hollis Davist)

“Somehow I remembered my fiancée’s phone number and the paramedic in the ambulance called my fiancée and I got to tell her I'd be alright in the ambulance.”

He was taken to a Detroit hospital but released less than 24 hours later, now recovering at home with said fiancée and his four-month-old daughter.

He says all the ribs on his left side are broken “into multiple pieces,” his right cheekbone is fractured, he has a laceration on his spleen, his “whole body's purple.”

“I feel very, very fortunate,” Baker says.

“I'm so thankful for all the people that aid to help me help rescue me.”

He says he’s had an incredible amount of support in the wake of the incident.

“All kinds of support from people that I don't even know,” Baker says.

“It’s been really heartwarming, but at the same time it's been tough because it's all going through my head right now.”Bridge worker Spencer Baker. (Courtesy Spencer Baker)

He says, along with the trauma of what happened, he’s grappling with anxiety over the medical bills he expects after being treated in a U.S. hospital – compounded by the months he’ll be off work while recovering.

“I’m worried about the future because I got to provide for my daughter and my family,” says Baker.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to be to be fully functional again.”

A family friend started an online fundraiser for Baker and his family.

He says the fall keeps replaying in his mind, but he’s grateful to be home with his loved ones – and he’s grateful for the kindness of strangers.