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Ayvin Bowie with his girlfriend, Lacey. (Photo: Tessa Scott)
$30,000 GoFundMe goal

Fundraiser organized for Red Deer youth suffering from brain injury

May 28, 2024 | 12:59 PM

In-person and online fundraisers have been organized to benefit Ayvin Bowie, a Red Deer teenager who suffered a brain injury in April 2024.

Ayvin’s mother, Tessa Scott, says the 16-year-old avid basketball player suffered a seizure on April 29 before falling head first down the stairs at home while getting ready for school.

The fall left him unconscious and seizing, says Scott.

Following tests and scans at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, Scott says Ayvin was later transported to the Edmonton Stollery Children’s Hospital where it was determined he had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Scott says Ayvin has been suffering from seizures ever since, and is now in a wheelchair, taking anti-seizure medication, and requiring 24-hour, around-the-clock care.

She adds that so far, all of the costs from medication to ambulance rides have been out-of-pocket.

Family members say they are grateful for a previous fundraiser held by Backcountry Recreation, but they’re hopeful more can be raised through a GoFundMe.

Proceeds from the fundraisers will go to rehabilitation and travel costs, but as Scott says, the ultimate goal is to raise the necessary funds to see specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

“Just an electroencephalogram (EEG) is $1100 down there,” said Scott in an interview with rdnewsNOW. “Then there’s the travel, the accommodations, keeping up our home here. My husband is working, but it’s not enough to keep everything afloat.”

Scott adds they do have a specialist appointment booked May 29 at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, but so far, their experience in Alberta hospitals has been unsatisfactory.

“There’s been no supports, no therapy, nothing,” says Scott. “This happened on April 29. We actually didn’t have this appointment in Calgary until July 5, but because we ended up in emergency (on May 23), they were able to push it up.”

Click here for the GoFundMe link.

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