There is a young boy from Castlegar, who will be one of the featured children on the annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon, who had a terrible accident while skiing Jan. 3, 2011. He took a bad fall and suffered a severe spinal cord injury and is now a paraplegic.His name is Cole Hoodicoff, age 12, who went skiing with his dad and his brother Caden for his birthday.
It was an activity he enjoyed, and on this occasion it simply went wrong.Variety has helped with costs for accommodations while Cole was in hospital. The parents have set up a trust fund to raise money to get a van that could transport Cole, and also needed a Tourney Seat, a seat that swivels to help cole in and out of seats, Variety funded $5,000 for this.
Good news to report – the seat has now been installed in the family's van. This allows Cole to have a much more comfortable ride. With other set-ups, people have been relegated to the back or side of the vehicle, making for a bouncy ride. The new system means far easier travel, and Cole will put it to good use with the several trips per year he will make to the spinal cord clinic at the Coast. Of course, he's got a date at the telethon, and will be featured sometime on the Sunday afternoon of the long-running event.
Cole's mom Amy spoke with the Castlegar News on January 17 and was very thankful for the help offered by Variety."When something happens like that you really don't know what to do," she explained. "The social workers down there put me in touch with Variety who helped find a place to go and helped pay for it, so we could focus on what we needed to focus on."Helping families get past monetary hurdles is such an important part of what Variety does.Variety, for us, helped pay for almost all of my accommodations while I was down in Vancouver for almost five months."Cole Hoodicoff is our neighbour, a youngster whose life has drastically changed due to a skiing accident. It's because of Cole and others like him across the province that Variety is such a critically important advocate.Please give generously to this year's Variety Show of Hearts Telethon, Saturday and Sunday, February 11 and 12 on Global TV...and be sure to watch for Cole on Sunday afternoon.
Since 1966, Variety and Global BC have worked together ever year to create 23 straight hours of amazing stories of hope from around the province as well as world class entertainment. Over the years, the Telethon has become Variety’s largest fundraising event, raising millions of dollars every year for children who have special needs organizations that support children. Last year’s Telethon raised $7,012,483 over the two days.