Meet Bridge

Bridge and his family love spending time together outdoors. From playing in the lake and fishing, to spending time in the mountains and everything in between. One Saturday morning in 2021 started out like any other, with Bridge and his family dirt biking together. Unfortunately, Bridge was in an accident and was rushed to their local hospital. It was clear to the team at the hospital that Bridge would need more specialized care and after some imaging he was quickly taken to the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

More than 20 health-care professionals were waiting for Bridge and his mom when they arrived at the Stollery. Bridge was facing a severe brain injury, nerve damage to his eye, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a compression fracture in his spine and a possible spinal cord injury. Bridge was placed into a medically induced coma, and it was hopeful but uncertain that he would wake up at all. He had craniotomy surgery to reduce the damage to his brain and spent just over two weeks in the intensive care unit. As Bridge’s recovery continued, he progressed extremely well. He spent the next four weeks at the Stollery working with neurology and other departments, while also receiving different therapies as he worked towards regaining his physical and cognitive skills. Bridge had to relearn how to stand, walk, swallow food – and with the support of his family, his faith and his Stollerific team, he did just that!

Today, Bridge is back to doing many of the things he loved doing before his accident. He is followed closely by the neurology team at the Stollery, and his family is grateful to have the Stollery here for families across Western Canada who may find themselves in a similar situation.