THE the DELTA delta LEADER leader MARCH 2013
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A priceless gift Firefighters pitch in to help paralyzed mother of two get her life back with specially-equipped van Robert Mangelsdorf, editor South Delta Leader Sitting in her light-weight titanium-frame wheelchair, Jennifer Rumley is almost at eye-level with her two young children; three-year-old Cameron and five-year-old Kaitlyn. The children are bundle of energy on this sunny day. Less than a year ago she would have been able to keep up with them, chasing them as they play. Rumley became paralyzed from the waist down after suffering cavernorma hemorrhage a kind of spinal aneurysm - resulting from an undetected birth defect which left blood vessels wrapped dangerously around her spinal column. But thanks to the remarkable generosity of her dearest friends and perfect strangers - including firefighters from across Western Canada - Rumley is getting her life back. Close to $70,000 in donations has been raised to purchase a specially-equipped van with a custom wheelchair lift and hand-drive controls for her. Having the van, Rumley says, doesn’t just mean she can get from A to B now. It gives her independence and lets her be a mom again. “It’s been hard to believe,” she says of the generosity she and her family have received. “It’s still not real.” Rumley’s husband Mike Bjarnason is a Delta firefighter, and when word got around about her condition, donations came pouring in from Bjarnason’s fellow firemen and women. Local firefighters held a pub night fundraiser for Rumley in November, raising close to $30,000. “It’s been unbelievable,” says Bjarnason. “Having all the support has made it a lot easier for us. Not just financially, but we had guys cooking meals for us, coming by the house, helping with the kids, babysitting, doing what-
ever we needed, they were there.” Delta firefighter and union local president Brad Wilson soon got the word out to departments as far away as Edmonton. “We’re firefighters, so we look after each other,” he says. But even Wilson was surprised at the response. Across B.C. and Alberta, firefighters who had never even met Bjarnason or his wife, donated more than $23,000. “We had some small departments way up in the middle of nowhere, and every guy would put in a couple hundred bucks,” he says. “It’s amazing.” Friends of Rumley also put on a fundraiser at the local Boston Pizza, where close to 300 people came out to raise $10,000. “It was quite shocking and very humbling,” Rumley says. “People from every corner of my life came out to help me.” Adjusting to life in a wheelchair is never easy, but Rumley was arguably better prepared than most. Before she was paralyzed, she was a workplace therapist at Langley General Hospital, and worked with many people who suffered similar paralysis. After a particularly vigorous workout close to a year ago, Rumley says she began to experience severe back pain. “Right away, I knew something was not right,” she says. Rumley was sent to Vancouver General, where an MRI showed the blood vessels had ruptured and bled into her spinal column, causing irreparable nerve damage. “When I went in to VGH I was walking,” she says. “And six days later I was in a wheelchair. “It was just a total freak thing.” Continued on P.6
PICTURED Mike Bjarnason’s coworkers at the Delta Fire Department helped raise $30,000 towards the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible van for his wife, Jennifer Rumley, after she was paralyzed last year. Now Rumley says she can get back to being a mom again, and drive her threeyear-old son Cameron and five-year-old daughter Kaitlyn instead of having to rely on others. Robert Mangelsdorf
Public Input on the Budget April 16th, 7:30 pm at the School Board Office (4585 Harvest Drive, Ladner)
To sign up to speak, please email Tracey at tnelson@deltasd.bc.ca