East Street Pizza owner McGoldrick on job after horrific crash

Jane McGoldrick is back.

The owner, operator and chef of popular downtown eatery East Street Pizza Company will be transitioning back into her busy professional life after she was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident near Havilland Bay June 18.

After intensive care, she spent months in the rehabilitation ward of Sudbury’s Health Sciences North before being released on Oct. 6. 

“I’m healing exceptionally well,” McGoldrick said, speaking to SooToday.

“I’m able to walk again. I’m very lucky that I wasn’t paralyzed.”

McGoldrick suffered a broken spine and broken left leg - both of which required surgery - as well as broken ribs and a punctured lung in the June accident.

“It was very bad. I’m very, very lucky to be here, but my recovery’s been going exceptionally well. I’ve been making great strides and I’m ahead of the game. With time and work I’m expected to make a full recovery.”

She is currently undergoing physiotherapy treatments in the Sault.

A very active individual, McGoldrick said “it’s been incredibly overwhelming because obviously right now I’m unable to go at 110 miles per hour like I was before, but I’m learning how to make it work, being positive and I know that being home and getting back into my community and back into my business is going to get me to where I need to be eventually.”

McGoldrick’s staff devotedly kept East Street Pizza running in her absence.

“They did such a fabulous job running things. I’m so incredibly grateful for my staff.”

“The thing that was surprising for me was that I’m used to being a lone wolf. I just do everything on my own and I go, go, go and I get things done, and when I really needed help, people were willing to step in and help and support me.”

“That really kept me going through the hard parts and I realize that I’m not alone and I have support and people want to help, and I just have to learn how to ask for help.”

McGoldrick kept in touch with her business via laptop from her hospital bed.

“Doing little pieces of running it and managing it kept me sane.” 

“I was always in the background,” she chuckled.

McGoldrick went back to work on Monday.

“I messaged Kurtis McDermid of Odd Job Jacks because I needed help taking down my patio and he was there in a heartbeat. We basically closed the last couple of days and just organized everything, not that it needed a big overhaul but just to wipe the slate and start fresh. We just reset, regrouped, I talked to the staff and set our objectives about what we want to do going forward.”

McGoldrick said she will be taking her return to work one day at a time as her physical recovery continues.

“I have to take each day as it comes. I know my spirit wants to be there every day but I also have to keep in mind that I’ve got some injuries that are healing but I definitely plan on being there when I have the energy.”

“I can’t do a lot of the physical stuff right now but there’s still a lot that I can do as far as keeping us relevant and on the map and I’m just hopeful that people will continue to support us.”

McGoldrick is no stranger to successfully taking on challenges.

“It's been a really long, hard two years with the pandemic and running a business in an area of economic decline already, in the downtown. That was already a huge gamble and then the pandemic came in. I really want to encourage people to ‘support local’ now more than ever.”

Community minded, McGoldrick also plans to step back into her role as executive chef at Harvest Algoma.

Harvest Algoma tackles local food security problems by collecting food, bringing surplus food into the community and by running a program that rescues food from being thrown away by restaurants and grocery stores. 

“We have so many different initiatives in our community, like Grocer 4 Good, Social Services, St. Vincent Place. There are so many great projects that we have going on. For me personally, I need to do these things to be who I am. They’re so important to me,” McGoldrick said.

While going through the ordeal of a long hospitalization, the well-known local chef and business leader had time to reflect on life.

“When you’re looking at four walls and a window in hospital, it’s surprising the things that come into your head that are important to you, what you put value on,” McGoldrick said.

“I know it sounds cliche but love is the answer. It’s about family.”

Apart from family and friends, McGoldrick is enjoying the company of her two dogs and is looking forward to eventually getting back to cycling, mountain biking and hiking. 

In a professional sense, getting back up to speed at her gourmet pizza eatery and her other community involvements are of top importance to her.

“As easy as it would’ve been to just say ‘I can’t do this, I can’t handle this, it’s too much, I have to focus on my health,’ the business is part of me. It’s part of my mantra, it’s part of our downtown and it’s so much more than just a business. My staff are my family.”

“I had a lot of time to think about things in hospital and a lot of battles to fight and it was really hard but I do know that where I am in my life right now is exactly where I’m supposed to be. I don’t have any regrets and I know I’m doing the right things so I’m grateful to be back and doing them.”