Rising Above the Challenge

A bright, sunny day in October 2020 started out like any other day for 14-year-old Moosomin, Saskatchewan, teenager Levi Jamieson. There were plenty of farm chores to be done, so he and a buddy who was helping on the farm that day hopped on an ATV to fix some fence in a field next to a neighbor. On the way, their ATV hit a drainage ditch, and in an instant, life changed forever for this farm kid.

While his friend walked away from the accident with some bruises and a broken collar bone, Levi was not as fortunate. He was taken by ambulance to the Southeast Integrated Care Centre in Moosomin, where he was immediately attended to by doctors before being airlifted by STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service) helicopter to Regina General Hospital in critical condition. From Regina, he was flown by a Saskatchewan air ambulance plane to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Saskatoon where more advanced care would be available.

Levi was in a medically induced coma for nearly a week to deal with his traumatic brain injury before undergoing surgery on his back. As a result of the accident, he lost the use of his legs. In the ensuing months, there were many visits to specialists as far away as Pennsylvania and countless hours of rehabilitation and physical therapy.

The road to recovery wasn’t easy, but if there’s one word to describe Levi, it’s resilient. He hasn’t let anything slow him down. He has returned to school, helps on the farm and tends to his own herd of cattle. He’s also having fun doing the things he loves, like hunting, skidooing, driving a team of horses and riding his horse with the support of a wide leather belt and straps attached to the saddle. He’s even back on the ice, playing sledge hockey with his friends at the Moosomin and Whitewood rinks.

“There’s not much he can’t do,” says Levi’s father, Darcy Jamieson. “It just takes longer and we adapt some equipment to make everything work that we need. He’s been cutting hay, baling, feeding cows in the tractor, combining, riding his horse, roping, checking cows. Those kinds of things.” 

In addition to his farm chores, Levi has been holding down a part-time summer job, doing roadside mowing for the Rural Municipality of Martin, where his dad supervises the  municipal crew.

Community support
When the communities in the surrounding area heard about the accident, they rallied around Levi and the Jamieson family with a tremendous outpouring of support. A cow pie bingo, Love  4 Levi donation account and heifer donation sale raised tens of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. 

“We watched the cow pie bingo from Levi’s hospital bed in Saskatoon,” says Levi’s mother, Diane Jamieson. “Levi requested that his own animals be used for the cow pie bingo, and our family and friends made it happen.”

“We are so grateful for the support we got from the community,” Darcy added. “Great friends of ours have a heifer sale every year at their farm. They got our local vet and branding families who help spearhead this heifer donation sale. While we were still with Levi in the hospital in Regina, they took one of their heifers, donated it to Levi and sold it 10 different times to different groups. All that money went to Levi. Plus, he got to keep the heifer. It was amazing the things people did for him.”

“From texts to prayers to phone calls to food to donations, the support was overwhelming,” Diane recalls. “From the moment it happened, there were so many phone calls just offering help with anything we needed. We learned what we always knew about the Moosomin and McAuley communities and the surrounding areas. It’s been unbelievable. Saying thank you from the bottom of our hearts doesn’t seem to be enough.”

A unique gift
Among all the generous support, one donation from a fellow farmer gave Levi added independence. 

Levi has been involved with the Fairmede 4-H Beef Club since he was 3 years old, and his dream has always been to someday take over the family farm. While he had found ways to accommodate his disability, he still needed his parents’ help to get in and out of the equipment around the farm.

That’s where Merle Malin, a retired farmer from Redvers, Saskatchewan, entered the picture. He saw a photo of Levi in the local newspaper and knew he wanted to help. 

Merle had been in a wheelchair for many years and was well acquainted with the obstacles it creates for a farmer. When Merle was in the hospital years ago, he was told there was no way he would farm again, but he proved the doctors wrong. After seeing a truck-mounted hydraulic lift at a farm show, he purchased one and used it for more than 30 years to access his farm equipment. Since he retired, he wasn’t using it much and offered to gift the lift, originally valued at $50,000, to Levi.

Levi was ecstatic. The lift would give him a measure of independence so he would not need as much help from  his parents.

“I couldn’t get to Redvers quick enough,” Levi says when he found out about the offer. “The lift is amazing. It goes from having Mom and Dad out there to lift me in, to being able to do it myself and getting out in the field and working.”

The hydraulic lift was only one part of the generous gift. It was also a gift of camaraderie with a farmer who Levi can talk to who understands firsthand the challenges he faces. “The friendship means a lot to me,” Levi says.

While things have changed for the Jamiesons, the family is adapting. Levi’s can-do attitude has been a big factor. Levi is up for the challenges ahead, and he’s not going to let his wheelchair stop him from pursuing his dream of one day running the family farm by himself and being as independent as he can be.

Levi has some sage advice for others facing seemingly insurmountable circumstances. “Don’t give up,” he says. “If you find something you can’t do, find a way to do it and prove  people wrong.”

Photos courtesy of the Jamieson family.