GoFundMe campaign launched for Jessie Simpson's care

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by Jessie Simpson's mother to raise money for her son's long-term care.

Following the 2016 attack on the Savona-area teen, Simpson was in a coma for 10 months. While he's regained consciousness, he suffered a catastrophic brain injury, along with many other physical injuries which have left him bedridden and wheelchair-bound in a full-time care facility, according to his mother Sue Simpson.

Sue has launched a campaign to help cover the costs, including a new wheelchair and a wheelchair accessible van. She says those two items, in particular, will improve Jessie's quality of life.

"There are a lot of medical appointments," she says. 

Without a wheelchair accessible van, going to those appointments is difficult. It’s either a long trip in a HandyDART (Sue says a recent trip took four to five hours for just one appointment), or an expensive cab ride (a recent ride was $80).

On top of that, a new wheelchair and accessible van would allow Jessie to get out and about with his family.

"It would be nice to take him somewhere other than appointments," she says. "He hasn't gone anywhere since he went to the hospital."

If enough money is raised, Sue plans to take him anywhere, from hockey games to the mall to the petting zoo; though in his current state, he gets tired and sore after a couple of hours.

"He wants to come home eventually; we'll see what happens for that," she tells KamloopsMatters.

It'd be nice to have him home for birthdays and maybe a weekend, Sue says, but that will require renovations to the house.

"The doors have to be redone, ramps put in, a lift has to be put in," she says. "Eventually, that's the goal."

"If we have a van we could bring him home," she adds.

Right now, HandyDART doesn't travel to Savona.

If the fundraising campaign raises more than is needed for a van and wheelchair, Sue says the other money would be used to improve Jessie's quality of life. Some would go to services (massage therapy and acupuncture), because of how sore Jessie gets; some to items like an iPad or books. She adds the family would look at hiring someone to read to Jessie and hang out with him when she's not able.

"The acupuncture has done wonders for him," Sue explains. "It's helping, everything we're doing."

Jessie Simpson's attack followed a night partying on the North Shore, when he was walking to catch up to friends. Kristopher Teichrieb, who had shared frustrations with police about criminal activity around his house in months prior to the attack, heard Simpson in his driveway around 4:30 a.m. on June 19, 2016 and chased him with a baseball bat, eventually catching him and attacking him.

Teichrieb has been sentenced to seven years in prison, minus time served. That equates to 44 more months behind bars, or three years and eight months, as of his sentencing last month.

Apart from the GoFundMe campaign, Sue says General Grants locations on the North Shore and on Camosun Crescent in Sahali have started a bottle donation fund.

As of Sunday, Nov. 18, nearly $9,000 of a $50,000 goal had been raised.