N.K. man paralyzed after fall

It was just after midnight on July 16 when Les Early decided to try out his bike on the Northeast Pioneers Greenway for the first time.

Early said he and his wife, Susan Irish, had been commenting to one another about how nice the trail looked and how many people used it.

So, after visiting friends who lived near Edison Avenue, the 45-year-old Early decided he’d use the paved trail to get back to his home in Valley Gardens instead of going down Raleigh Street as he usually did.

Early never made it to the trail that night.

While crossing the wooden footbridge over the ditch between Raleigh and the trail, Early fell and broke his neck.

The fall caused severe damage to his spinal cord, leaving him a quadriplegic.

“I don’t really remember much except driving up to it,” Early said recently from his bed in the rehabilitation wing of the Health Sciences Centre.

“Next thing I remember is I kept yelling.”

Early said he vaguely recalls a young man coming along who called 911.

“It clicks in time frames after that,” Early said.

For Irish, the events that took place that night remain clearly etched in her mind.

“I was expecting him, but it wasn’t unusual for him to be late,” she said.

But when her phone began ringing in the early morning hours, Irish said she began to worry.

The next thing she remembers is hearing a voice on the other end of the phone saying, “We have your husband here” and “He’s not dead.”

Irish said she arrived at the hospital at about 4 a.m. that day and feels as though she has never left.

“I was doing pretty good up until a while ago. Everybody said this would get to me eventually, so I guess it is,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Irish said she is still baffled by the extent of her husband’s injuries.

“It would have been different if it was a car accident, but it was a two-foot fall. It’s just so flukey. You shouldn’t get that hurt on something like that,” Irish said.

The approximately three-foot-wide wooden footbridge didn’t have any guard rails. It was used frequently by the public, according to area residents.

However, it — along with another footbridge located further south — disappeared a month after Early’s accident.

Ken Allen, a spokesperson for the city’s public works department, said the city removed them to make way for the construction of a dozen asphalt access connections to the trail. The connections are scheduled to be completed soon, he added.

“The origin of the original access connections are unknown,” Allen said.

“My understanding is that they were not put there by the City of Winnipeg,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know when they were installed.

Allen said he didn’t have any information on Early’s accident.

“If something like that were to occur, it would go through the city’s claims process,” he said.

Irish said the incident has left the family in a financial crunch.

Early, who used to be a truck driver in Alberta, doesn’t have any insurance and his benefits run out at the end of the month, she said.

To make matters worse, Irish said they are renting a house in North Kildonan, limiting the amount of modifications they can make to prepare it for Early’s return home.

She said they will need to raise money to help cover the costs of a specialized wheelchair, bed, chair-lift and voice-activated telephone, computer and TV.

Early’s friends are holding a fundraising social and silent auction for him on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. at the New Cavalier Motor Inn, located at 1650 Regent Ave. West. Tickets are $15 each.

To make a donation or to purchase tickets for the fundraiser, call Tracey at 283-7412. Financial contributions can be sent to 1310 Henderson Hwy, c/o Les Early Trust Fund.