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FundAid: New Burn Fund Centre to help families

Oscar Knowles-Dekkers was only 10 months old when he became beguiled by the artwork on the handle of a cup that his mother had just filled with hot herbal tea.
Burn Fund Centre
David Podmore, co-chair of the Burn Fund Centre fundraising campaign, burn survivor Oscar Knowles-Dekkers and Darlene Poole, who donated $2.5 million to an endowment fund to help families, joined the bucket brigade at the centre’s groundbreaking ceremony. Photo Martha Perkins

Oscar Knowles-Dekkers was only 10 months old when he became beguiled by the artwork on the handle of a cup that his mother had just filled with hot herbal tea. The cup was resting on a newspaper so Oscar pulled on the paper, hoping to get a closer look.

The tea spilled over his neck, chest and arms, resulting in second and third degree burns that required two years of intense medical care. During the first part of his stay at the burn unit at B.C. Children’s Hospital, his mother stayed with him in his room, his father and brothers travelling back and forth by ferry from their home on Bowen Island.

Thanks in part to islanders’ support, the family did not need to turn to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund for help, but they were aware of how lucky they were compared to some of the other families whose lives were overturned by a blink-of-eye accident or devastating fire.

“The firefighters and the nurses who work with burn patients know how incredibly traumatic this experience can be, and that the stress of trying to cope is not conducive to healing,” said Oscar’s mother Sam Knowles. “You don’t plan for these things, they just happen, but it is a huge expense and you just have to deal with it.”

Oscar is now nine and after a few holidays at the Burn Fund’s summer camp, where he feels among family, he felt compelled to help. He started a bottle drive and when that took too long to raise money, he turned his attention to the old wooden shingles that were being torn off the roof of the Bowen Island Library. He asked if he could have them to sell as kindling and then spent part of his summer taking nails out of the shingles and splitting them into fire-starter size with his brother Milo.

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At Wednesday morning’s ground-breaking ceremony for the new Burn Fund Centre at Main Street and 23rd Avenue, Oscar presented a $4,300 cheque to the Burn Fund.

“If we had a world of Oscars, what a beautiful place. Thank you, Oscar,” said Darlene Poole, who had a donation of her own to make: the Jack and Darlene Poole Foundation is giving $2.5 million to support the Burn Fund Centre construction and begin an endowment that will support families at the Burn Fund Centre in perpetuity.The eight-suite centre will be a place where families like Oscar’s can stay — for free — during their treatments at B.C. Children’s Hospital and the Vancouver General Hospital’s burn unit.

Conveniently located between the two hospitals, it will be the families’ home away from home, a welcoming place where they can sleep, cook and eat together in a safe, ultra-clean setting.

“It fills a critical gap in care and will ensure people can move on with their recovery and lead fulfilling lives,” said burn survivor Brady Tupper.

As construction begins, the $13.1 million fundraising campaign is in its final stretch, with $1 million still to go.

David Podmore is co-chair of the fundraising campaign with his daughter Jennifer Podmore Russell. His company, Concert Properties is a major supporter of the Burn Fund’s long-held dream.

“We just couldn’t be here without you,” Michael Hurley, the president of the BC Professional Fire Fighters Association and B.C. Burn Fund told the Podmore family.

The association’s 3,800 members have been making payroll deductions to meet their personal $1.3 million commitment to the campaign. Part of the proceeds of the 2015 Hall of Flame Calendar go to the Burn Fund and two of the calendar’s firefighters have set up crowdfunding campaigns (FundAid.ca) for the Burn Fund in the calendar’s Donation Challenge. Oscar has a fundraising page at burnfund.donorpages.com.

mperkins@glaciermedia.ca

—with files from the Bowen Island Undercurrent

Note: this story has been corrected since first posted.