Three years ago, Curtis Zannussi was working for a family friend on a construction project at a golf course in Aldergrove.
He was putting in drain tile in a trench about seven feet deep, and using a laser level to ensure the pipes were angled correctly. After a brief coffee break, Zannussi returned to the trench and realized he’d left his level at the bottom—so he jumped in to get it.
Immediately he noticed a spring breaking through the soil and heard his boss shouting “get out!”
But he didn’t have time. Suddenly the trench wall collapsed, crushing him against the far wall from the chest down.
For a few moments he desperately struggled to dig out, and his co-workers rushed with shovels to help.
But for Zannussi, who couldn’t breathe, his world soon went dark.
“Within a split second, my world came crashing down,” he said at the launch of Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation’s new lottery to support trauma care.
Zannussi was there to lend his support to the hospital that he says saved him—and where, after that terrible accident, he spent three months of his life.
“To this day I’m amazed with the way this hospital can deal with the constant bombardment of trauma patients from across the region,” he said.
At the golf course, his co-workers revived him through CPR and tried to keep him from lapsing back into unconsciousness.
Paramedics on scene quickly determined that specialized trauma care was needed and a helicopter was dispatched to whisk him to Royal Columbian.
“It’s not like I had a broken leg,” he said. “I had the life crushed out of me.”
His injuries were serious and multiple: his pelvis was shattered, a lung was punctured, bones were “loose and floating” and much of the skin from his knees to his lower back had been torn away from the underlying tissues, which is known as “degloving.”
The first two weeks were spent in an induced coma, during which he had several surgeries.
Later, his road to recovery was aided by clear, realistic goals set out by the medical staff.
Zannussi says these helped keep him from falling into despair.
“The staff were so good at focusing me on the next goal,” he said, citing getting out of his bed and sitting in his wheelchair for two minutes as an early one.
He also set a big goal of his own.
Before the accident he’d planned to propose to his girlfriend, Kerri, and even had the ring.
Three weeks into his hospital stay, with Kerri spending hours by his side, he decided it was time.
“And I wasn’t under the influence of any medication at the time,” he quipped.
He couldn’t even get down on one knee, but the pending wedding gave them both something to look forward to, and it gave him a tangible goal for his rehab: to be able to walk down the aisle on their wedding day.
Today, he’s able to walk, though he says he’ll never be 100 per cent—a fact that he shrugs off, grateful simply to have survived.
“Everybody has their own things to deal with. That’s how I look at it,” he said.
“I always thought I knew what was important and this confirmed it.”
He believes he’s been given a second chance that, but for the high quality of care available at RCH, he might not otherwise have had.
“I don’t think there’s a chance you can live in this area too long without being impacted by RCH in some way.”
Vacation Home Lottery's prizes include 50 hours on private jet
The Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation has launched a new fundraising venture, which offers the chance to win a vacation home in Kelowna, Parksville or Whistler.
The BC Vacation Home Lottery is the only lottery with three grand prizes for three big winners, the foundation says.
“We are very excited to start this new venture,” says Adrienne Bakker, president and CEO of the foundation.
“As a fundraising tool, BC Vacation Home Lottery gives us the ability to raise significant dollars for much needed equipment, research, and programs at the Royal Columbian Hospital. Every ticket sold is an important step forward in providing world-class care to the critically injured and seriously ill.”
Proceeds from this year’s lottery will be used to support emergency and trauma services at the hospital.
Ticket holders will be competing for 1,743 prizes totalling more than $3.2 million, including a $260,000 early bird prize: 50 hours on a private jet.
Other prizes include the latest new vehicles, worldwide vacations, leisure and home electronics prizes.
The three grand prize packages include a vacation home and cash.
The final deadline for ticket sales is midnight, April 7, 2011.
RCH is one of B.C.’s busiest hospitals, with 61,000 emergency visits and 30,000 admissions annually.
RCH receives the most air ambulance patients of any hospital in B.C. and treats approximately 10,000 trauma patients from around B.C. each year.
“Trauma can affect any one of us at any time,” said Dr. Ian MacPhail, program medical director for Fraser Health’s trauma program and trauma team leader at RCH.
“It’s an area of care where minutes matter. Caring for critically injured patients takes a whole team—from the initial assessment to the surgery and close observation in the trauma unit. Having the right equipment also plays a major role in helping us save lives and reduce the lifelong impact of serious injuries. It is critical to have on hand the most effective and advanced life-saving technologies in situations where every minute makes a difference.”
For more information or to buy tickets to the lottery, visit www.bcvacationhomelottery.com.