A man paralyzed after he was struck by a falling tree at Elk Lake last fall remains in hospital seven months later.
Dave Inglis, 54, was walking with three friends on Oct. 13, 2012, when a 21-metre tree crashed onto the trail below, leaving him with severe injuries. The active, outdoor-loving man, who worked as a blaster, was in a coma for almost three weeks.
Doctors knew within a few days that Inglis was facing paralysis. No one else in the group was seriously hurt.
This weekend, family and friends will hold a fundraising garage sale to help Inglis with his needs, such as the possible purchase of an electric wheelchair and other related costs.
Inglis’s sister Susan Yates said she has talked to a few personal-injury lawyers but nothing has transpired on the legal front.
“We’re being very careful, just taking it one week at a time about how we’re going to manage his money and how we’re going to manage his care,” Yates said.
The freakish nature of the accident has had people shaking their heads, Yates said.
“So many people have asked us if it was a really windy day, and it wasn’t at all. That tree was just totally dead and just broke off out of the blue.”
She said her brother loved being at Elk and Beaver lakes with his dog and his friends.
“He lives very close to the park and he was there pretty well every single day, sometimes twice a day.”
Larisa Hutcheson, the CRD’s general manager of parks and environmental services, said that what happened was “very, very, very rare.” The CRD has a tree-inspection program, with 12 certified inspectors who follow the provincial protocol for assessing trees.
On the day of the accident, the first medical help for Inglis came from two nurses who happened on the scene and began tending to the unconscious man. One of his walking companions borrowed a cellphone to direct ambulance paramedics to the scene.
Inglis was rushed to Victoria General Hospital and then sent by air ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital for specialized treatment. Yates made it to Vancouver from her home in Kelowna about the same time her brother arrived. Doctors were just trying to keep him alive at that point, she said.
He was eventually moved back to Victoria to continue his recovery. Yates has taken a leave from her job and moved here to be with him.
“It’s taken him a long time to comprehend the fact that he’s paralyzed,” she said. “We’re expecting it’s going to be long-term, permanent paralysis.”
Shoulder pain has kept him from doing the optimal amount of physiotherapy, she said.
Yates said her brother’s friends have helped her cope, as has the church she is attending here.
“He still has a lot of people going up to see him on a regular basis. I just appreciate that so much.”
The garage sale runs Saturday and Sunday at 541 Normandy Rd., off Elk Lake Drive, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
