Let's Give Mark Draves Back His Mobility

We are fundraising for the purchase of an Action Trac chair for Mark Draves.

In March of 2014, Mark suffered an Abdominal Aortic Dissection ( Triple A) and was immediately airlifted to the University of Alberta hospital with a 1% chance of surviving. After a major operation he was left a complete paraplegic. He spent 3 months in the U of A Hospital, then in the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital learning how to live life now in a wheelchair. 6 months later he suffered a stroke with a brain bleed that left him with short and long term memory loss. He was then back in the hospital for 3 months then back to the Glenrose for another 3 months learning how to do simple tasks with hand and eye coordination. 2 years later he had to have 2 separate surgeries for pressure sores from sitting and another few months in hospital. A year after that he suffered a gallbladder attack and had emergency surgery again to have his gallbladder removed. In 2018 he became very sick in a matter of hours and was rushed to the local hospital with severe stomach pain and w.as immediately air lifted by STARS to Edmonton with a necrotic bowel and his body was turning septic and was suffering with septic shock. He survived and now wears an ostomy pouch 24/7. He remains being prone to pressure ulcers and other complications associated with everything going on and suffers from limited blood flow to parts of his body.

Before all of this happened, Mark was an avid rancher who raised and showed purebred cattle across Canada. After his tragedy, he sold all his cows and now spends most of his time indoors. Living on a farm has challenges when it comes to wheeling a manual wheelchair outside and even his power chair cannot go everywhere in the yard. Allowing him to purchase this Action Trac chair would give him more freedom to do the things that he loves. To be able to go check pasture fences, work on equipment in the shop, fix things outside and totally contribute to his overall well-being. The chair also helps him to be able to stand up which is beneficial to preventing pressure ulcers and strengthen his legs increasing the

blood flow.

Mark has decided also if anything was to happen that he could not use the chair anymore that it would be gifted to a rancher/farmer who might be going through the same life changing issues.

Our community is fundraising for the chair, accessories, storage and maintenance to get Mark back outside, working with his animals, living the life that was taken from him.