Fundraiser planned for spinal cord patient

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This article was published 22/11/2019 (2371 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A special event taking place Saturday in Morris will raise funds for a young man paralyzed in a diving accident this past summer.

Corey Mazinke suffered a spinal cord injury on July 5 at Buffalo Point Resort.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Winnipeg and raised in Morris, dove off a pontoon boat and struck a sandbar, shattering his C5 vertebrae.

Mazinke was airlifted to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg and underwent 10 hours of surgery. His heart stopped for several minutes en route. Water in his lungs also caused a life-threatening infection, but Mazinke battled back from the brink.

Doctors gave him a prognosis of paralysis from the chest down, said Sean Conway, a Morris-based columnist for the Southeast Journal who interviewed the Mazinke family.

One month before the accident, Mazinke graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in biosystems engineering.

The former Pembina Valley Twister had been working for Elmer’s Manufacturing, designing and testing farm equipment, and enjoyed his new career.

He is currently completing an intensive course of physical and occupational therapy on weekdays at HSC. His weekends are spent in Morris.

Lately, Mazinke has been able to regain slight functionality in his wrists. The development is encouraging, as they are controlled by a vertebrae below the injury site.

Mazinke expects to be discharged from hospital in February and return home to continue recovering.

But the transition from inpatient to outpatient will bring many costs, including ongoing therapy twice a week at HSC, plus a specialized wheelchair, vehicle, and accommodations.

Friends and family approached the Mazinkes about putting together a fundraiser to offset some of those costs.

The event will take place this Saturday, Nov. 23, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Morris Multiplex.

A silent auction, hockey game, twister game, mustache contest, hoodie sale, and dinner are on the agenda.

That evening, Mazinke also plans to take to the ice in a motorized wheelchair and drop the game puck for the Pembina Valley Twisters’ home game.

More details about the event are available on Facebook.

UPDATE Nov. 24, 8:21 a.m. – adds attribution.