Fundraiser tomorrow night

By Debbie Elliott

Erin McBrearty’s life was going along quite nicely thank you.

Hard working and with a zest for life and all the fun it has to offer, Erin enjoyed the fruits of his labor by doing things he loved… snowmobiling, skiing, fishing, biking and motorcycle riding to mention a few. Well-established and respected, with 10 year’s work in the oilfields, he and the love of his life Holly, had plans and goals until the curve ball of a lifetime was thrown their way.

On April 21, 2012 Erin (also known as Bird) was snowmobiling with friends in Chatter Creek north of Golden when he was in an accident. He was picked up by an emergency response helicopter and flown to Golden, where he was transferred to a STARS chopper and flown to Calgary. Erin’s spinal cord was severed and he would now be living his life as a paraplegic. This was the beginning of Erin’s and Holly’s new life.

Erin left Foothills hospital 81 days later with Holly barely having left his side, and his back now internally fitted with two – 12 inch titanium rods and 10 – two inch screws, a boat load of pain medications and a new set of wheels. An unimaginable amount of change to absorb, an overwhelming amount of things that needed to be done to adapt to this new way of life, challenges financially that make the change all the more frustrating.

Erin’s extended health plan was denied, saying he was six days short of the qualification period due to seasonal work. The couple has subsequently used all of their savings to get by.

Additionally, the closest spinal injury therapy is located in Calgary or Kelowna, access to which is too difficult to manage financially and physically without relocating; Cranbrook is home.

Through all of this, he has never wavered in his zest for life, has set clear goals for himself and works as hard as ever to achieve them.

He has accomplished feats unthinkable to most in the brief 32 months since that day in the mountains. Part of his success is because of the availability of the equipment necessary to live an independent life, which turns out to be a bit of a double-edged sword in that, literally, each piece of adaptive equipment (wheelchair, driving kits etc.) run an average of $10,000.

In January of 2013, seven months after his accident, Erin was back on the ski slopes, taking his first lesson on an ‘bi sit ski’ (two skis), offered by one person who did the lessons as a volunteer.

Although there is the paraplegic training centre in Kimberley it is not open to the public and there is no B.C. Adaptive Ski Program established.

This despite the fact there is a state-of-the-art facility with an amazing adaptive equipment gym, fully wheelchair accessible washroom and shower facilities and a disabled persons access parking lot that is currently used to dump snow.

There are recently-started B.C Adaptive Ski Programs in Fernie and Panorama Mountain Village but they only offer the ‘bi sit ski’ program at this time. Being a member of a BC Adaptive Ski Program entitles you to enter competitive events and provides ongoing support to advance your skills to world-class levels.

Erin excelled at sit skiing and in March made the trip to Kimberley to participate in the CADS (Canadian Association for Disabled Skiers) Festival. Here he participated in one week of sit ski (one ski), lessons at the Paralympic Training Facility in Kimberley (only open for this event), where he had the good fortune of trying out some of the very best sit ski equipment from one of the top manufacturers in the world, HOC (Hands on Concepts).

By week’s end, Erin was skiing at par or better than the instructors and he was encouraged to pursue sit skiing seriously.

Since that week he has spent countless hours a day preparing for his new found passion and has set a goal to be the best. As with many of the challenges they have overcome, it would seem there is a brick wall that needs to be broken down at every turn.

Erin has found that to become an Olympic contender you must be represented by a coach or be on a team.

In order to make it onto a team without a sponsor Erin will need to compete in the Western Canadian Sit Ski Championship. This is where there are scouts. This year there are many competitors retiring and positions are available for new talent to emerge.

With no sponsorship expenses available it will cost $12,500 for Erin to compete, including equipment.

To compete Erin has committed to the Nissin Sit ski with a lift mechanism that allows him to access the ski lift seat without assistance. This is a limited production model.

He also applied to the BC Disabled Ski Program and was pre-approved for funding and then told there was no money available.

If you would like to help Erin realize his dream, think about attending Bird’s Fundraiser tomorrow evening at The Legendary Byng Roadhouse.

Alexander William Webster will be on stage at 9 p.m. Organizers are raising money to help purchase a sit ski for Bird.

If you can’t make it down to the Byng, you can still help Erin by going here and making a donation.

Let’s do Cranbrook proud by helping raise another champion!

Lead image: Erin McBrearty, left, with partner Holly.

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