Pitching in: Fundraising for UHN’s Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

The organizer: Andy MacPherson

The pitch: Raising $3,500

The cause: UHN’s Toronto Rehab

In March, 2014, Andy MacPherson was trying a jump on a ski hill during a family holiday when everything went seriously wrong.

He cleared the jump and landed on a giant airbag but then he slid off the front the bag and landed on his head. “I ended up lying on the snow and ice at the base of this big jump and I immediately knew I was in deep trouble because my body just shut down and I had no sense of feeling below my chest,” Mr. MacPherson, 56, recalled from his home in Toronto.

He’d injured his spinal cord and while it hadn’t been severed, doctors gave him only a 3-per-cent chance of walking. After emergency surgery at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, Mr. MacPherson spent three months at University Health Network’s Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. He started using a power wheelchair, then a manual chair and eventually a walker. After four months he was walking freely. “Now years later, I have returned to what I would call a normal life with some accommodations.”

His recovery has gone so well that a few years ago he went on a family ski vacation to Kelowna, B.C. “It was an emotional trip and a celebratory one for sure,” he said.

Mr. MacPherson credits Toronto Rehab, and in particular physiotherapist Jamie Young, for helping regain his life. “People sort of take walking for granted. You don’t really think about it for the most part. But when you have to learn how to walk again, it’s really hard and complicated and you need physical, technological and emotional support.”

He’s became actively involved in the UHN Foundation and on Sept. 8 he joined 500 participants in the annual Rally for Rehab fundraising event which involves a two-kilometre or 3.5-kilometre walk. The event raised more than $237,000 and Mr. MacPherson contributed $3,500.

He’ll never forget the treatment he received at the centre. When he and his wife were choosing middle names for their son, they quickly settled on Jamie in honour of Mr. Young.