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Fundraiser aims to give gift of mobility to injured teen

The Exploration Place, Prince George Metis Housing Society and Lheidli T'enneh First Nation can't give local teen athlete Trent Seymour back the use of his legs, but they are hoping to give him the next best thing.
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Man in Motion Rick Hanson visited Trent Seymour at Vancouver General Hospital in October. Seymour suffered a spinal cord injury in a hunting accident on Sept. 21.

The Exploration Place, Prince George Metis Housing Society and Lheidli T'enneh First Nation can't give local teen athlete Trent Seymour back the use of his legs, but they are hoping to give him the next best thing.

Seymour, 17, suffered a serious spinal cord injury in a hunting accident on Sept. 21, and is currently receiving treatment at the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver. He is expected to return home next month.

Tracy Calogheros, CEO of The Exploration Place, said the groups are holding a fundraising dinner on Feb. 6 at the Treasure Cove Casino to raise money to purchase an Action Trackchair -a tracked, all-terrain wheelchair.

"It works like a tank," Calogheros said. "Because Trent is going to live on reserve, a regular wheelchair wouldn't be able to get him around."

In addition, she said, it will allow him to continue to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors.

In September Seymour was hunting with a friend near his home on the Shelley reserve, when his friend tripped while carrying a loaded gun. The .22-calibre rifle discharged, and the bullet severed Seymour's spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down.

The trackchair costs $17,000, and Calogheros said Integris Credit Union has already donated $6,000 toward its purchase. The Treasure Cove Casino donated $5,000 and free use of its show lounge to host the event, she added.

"We'd like, if I have my way, to have the price of the chair paid for before the event even starts," Calogheros said.

Any money raised in excess of the purchase price of the chair will be used to help Seymour's family modify their home and vehicles to make them accessible, she added.

The event will feature live music by singer Tewanee Joseph and his band - Bitterly Devine - and a silent auction. Anyone interested in donating cash or silent auction items can contact Calogheros at 250-981-5910.

Tickets should be on sale later this week at The Exploration Place, she said.

There will be 16 tables for the dinner and entertainment, selling for $1,000 each for 10 people. Individual tickets for the live entertainment and silent auction -with no dinner - will be $40 each.

Calogheros said the museum got involved because Seymour's father, Barry Seymour, has been a museum board member for 20 years. The senior Seymour is also on the board the Prince George Metis Housing Society and worked at the Lheidli T'enneh band office.

"The Lheidli T'enneh band council contacted us and asked if we could help," she said.

Before his injury, Seymour was a pitcher and first baseman for the B.C. under-19 softball team that won gold in July at the North American Indigenous Games; played for Falcon Contracting in the Spruce City Major Men's Fastball League; and as a goalie in the Prince George midget hockey house league.

He was also a Grade 12 honours student at Kelly Road secondary school, and been accepted into the power engineering apprentice program at the College of New Caledonia.

-- with files from Ted Clarke and Mark Nielsen