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Christopher Needs Your Help!

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On Thursday, August 27th Chris Van Niekerk was severely burned from the chest up in a tragic accident and was rushed to The Ross Tilly Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

Beyond his extensive surgeries, Chris could use your help with after-care expenses, including medicines, skin treatments, and therapy. Initial support has been overwhelming. We all want Chris to get the best help available so he can get back to his daily life. We’re confident that with your support we can help him do that.

We are all, including, Chris, his wife Kristen and their three children (Ocean, 6; Beckett, 1; and Oakleigh, 8 weeks) are grateful beyond words for any donation.

Christophers Progress

We wanted to give you updates on his journey as we go through the next couple of months.  The strength, support and the many words of kindness helps Chris, so we wanted to share this with you.

August  28th - First day in the hospital with the incredible team of Ross Tilley Burn Unit.  The first skin graft surgery and   everything goes well with family, friends and co-workers at the hospital to give  their support.  

August 29th - Second surgery

August 30th - With his eyes still swollen and in a semi-concious state due to the burns.  Chris still shows his passion for sports when his family turns on the Blue Jays Baseball game in his hospital room.   Everytime a Jays playered scored a run, his hand gestures reflected his emotion of each Blue Jays run.  Click here below how the Blue Jays support Sunnybrook Hospital.

September 3rd - GoFundMe fundraising account is created and is lauched to raise money for Chris and his family.

September 4th - Chris went into surgery this morning at 10am as planned.  This is going to be a longer surgery as this will be a bigger skin graft procedure.  

September 5th - Just received another update from Christophers Mom.  As mentioned on Friday September 4th Christopher had a long day in surgery with skin grafting.  The doctors are expecting the grafting to heal and be in good condition.  Christopher will be heavily sedated over the weekend to make sure that he is comfortable. 

September 6th - He has had 3 surgeries.  First was his neck, chest and shoulders with donated skin. Second was his face with donated skin, and third was all of it redone but, with his own skin which came from his upper legs.

September 7th - On behalf of Chris and Kristen, their families would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the generous donations which will help Chris and Kristen over the coming months. We are so grateful.

September 8th -  Christopher is in good hands with the care he is receiving at the hospital. He is not allowed visitors except immediate family for the next week or so. His eyelids are still swollen so he can`t see and his face is all bandaged up so he cannot speak. You can only imagine how difficult this is for him. He`s been sedated a lot and has a few moments of wakefulness, but he doesn`t understand what`s going on and the nurses told us not to give him any more information other than that he`s in the hospital. Tomorrow the dressings come off.

September 9th - On Wednesday Christopher had his head and facial dressings removed. Today he had the tube taken out of his throat. He is talking, making eye contact but is unsure of what’s happening to him. For his family, they have had time to process what has happened and what Chris has been through. For Chris, this is day one. Now the real work begins.

September 12th - Saturday, .Sep 12 is a happy day. Chris is lucid, speaking well and almost sounds like he did before. He has many questions and he remembers what happened but does not know why he fainted. He is so good, in fact, he invited his brothers to watch the Blue Jay game in his room. He stood up, with help from the nurses, for a few seconds today. He should be sitting in a chair tomorrow. He is strong, he is a survivor and we love him.
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Donations 

  • Denise Haelzle
    • $100 
    • 8 yrs
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Organizer

Ron ONeil
Organizer
Barrie, ON

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