Personal website of Jeff Bourne

Hey folks, Sorry for no blogssince last year just haven’t been very inspired but I’m back!  My last blog was back in March of 2010, rightbefore the start of the Paralympics. If anyone didn’t fallow the Paralympicsledge hockey tournament, let me get you caught up a bit. In group A the USAtook first place in the round robin while the Japanese national team took 2ndas only the top two teams in each group make the playoffs, the Czechs and SouthKoreans were eliminated. As for group B Canada finished the round robin with aperfect 3-0 record looking for a gold medal going into the playoffs, Norwayfinished in 2nd place with one win, one tie and one lose in regulation.

In the cross-over playoff round the 1st placeCanadians took on the 2nd place Japanese from the B pool.  The Canadians came out in a strong firstperiod opening up a 1-0 lead going into the 1st intermission, butfell apart from there on in. The Japan national team went on to a 3-1 winearning them a berth into the gold medal game, leaving Canada looking at abronze medal game. In the other cross-over playoff game the USA and Norwaysquared off for a chance to meet the Japanese in a fight for gold. The U.Snational team looked very strong the entire game winning in a convincing 3-0final score. So the stage is set: Japan-USA for gold Canada-Norway for Bronze. In the gold medal game theUSA national team dominated a very tired looking Japanese team coming away witha 2-0 victory earning them a spot on the top of the podium.

In the bronze medal game, Canadawanted to salvage the tournament on home ice by winning the bronze medal, theCanadians looked strong through two periods finally scoring the opening goal inthe final period, but then with 6 minutes to play Norwegians tied the game on apenalty shot.  With 6 seconds left in thegame and all signs looking like OT was looming the Norwegians pulled off theupset, with a tip off the stick of Eskil Hagen, sending the Canadians homeempty handed.

In other news, 2010 was prettyquite for me except for the Hockey Greats Fantasy Camp 2010, and a short butrestful camping trip to Pillar Lake. The year ended great, spent in Chandler,Arizona  with my Brother Justin, his Fiancée Bri and my Step Sister Janelle ringing in the New Year.

As we get fully into the Swingof 2011. I am very excited about this year as I have made a full commitment tolose 50lbs and hit the gym every second day when possible. Also we are veryexcited about this year’s edition of the Hockey Greats Fantasy Camp, with twonew major sponsors coming on board as well as our friends at Okanagan Springs Brewery.

Well readers, I will wrap thisblog up, but I promise to do more blogging in 2011! 

In 1980, Rick Hansen started a 40,000 mile trek around the world called the “Man in Motion” Tour, in hopes of raising awareness and funds for Spinal cord injuries. During his tour he was able to raise over $26 million dollars for SCI research. After 792 days and 40,073 kilometers of marathon wheeling, Rick completed his world tour in May 1987.

In 1997 the Rick Hansen Foundation was created. About 4 years ago I was approached about being an ambassador for the Foundation, which I accepted. Now every year across Canada, there are various different events in June to raise money for the Foundation.

I began as part of the board of directors in my home town of Kelowna, for the “wheel walk or run” for the Foundation. Unfortunately the wheel walk or run event didn’t work in Kelowna and was shut down after only three or four years. I was then approached by the Foundation about starting a new annual event in June. So after much consideration and thought, I decided to hold a “Beer and Burger” event for the Rick Hansen foundation. I had been going to Sturgeon Hall Pub quite regularly and decided to go to them for help.

After approaching the owners of Sturgeon Hall for their assistance, they were very happy to help; thus the “Beer and Burger for spinal cord injury research” event was born!

This year is the 2nd annual event, and it will be held June 12th,2010 at Sturgeon Hall Restaurant in Kelowna, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. For $20 dollars, you can get two pints of beer and a either a burger, smokie or veggie dog. All the food and drinks are being donated by Sturgeon Hall, so all the event’s proceeds go to the Foundation.

Also, we will have an auction of sports memorabilia donated by Players Choice sports memorabilia store, as with the previous year. There were a lot current pro hockey players in attendance from the NHL, AHL, ECHL and the European leagues last year, and there will be a group of them there this year as well.

Last year, we were able to successfully raise $1,500, and our goal this year is set at $2,000 dollars. If you would like to attend the event this year, please contact me at jeff.bourne@gmail.com.

Hey there sledge hockey fans! What an incredible week of paralympic sledge hockey. As we get down to the nitty gritty of the tournament, four of the eight teams are still in contention for the medals.

 

 

In Pool A: The USA and Japan finish 1st and 2nd, leaving the Czechs and Koreans in the 3rd and 4th spots. USA has yet to allow a goal in the tournament, while Taylor Lipsett and Alexi Salamone are leading the charge for the USA with five points apiece. Playing goal for the US National Team, Steve Cash is tied for first in goaltending with a 0.00 GAA. Team Japans Mitsuru Nagase is five in goaltending stats.

 

In Pool B: Canada and Norway are 1st and 2nd respectively; Sweden and Italy finish the round robin 3rd and 4th. Canada let up only one goal in the tournament in a 10-1 drubbing of the Swedish national team. Three of the top four goal scorers come from Canada, including Greg Westlake and Marc Dorian who are 1st and 2nd in tournament scoring leaders.

 

As we head into the playoffs, Japan will cross over from Pool A to play Pool B’s top team - Canada - in one of the semi-finals. In the second semi final game, the US will cross over to play Pool B’s second place team Norway.

 

Well sledge hockey fans, here we go! Let the playoffs begin!!

As the 2010 Olympic winter games come to a close, we now look ahead to the 2010 Paralympic Games.

The Paralympics  don’t have quite as rich of a  history as the Olympic Games, but still, it is a valid evolution of the acceptance of disabled people in the world of competitive sports.

Here’s a Brief history of the Paralympic Games for those of you that aren’t as informed:

The Games were started in Stoke, Mandeville, England in 1948, as a way to get soldiers returning from the 2nd World War up and moving again. The current Winter Paralympics did not start until 1980 in Geilo, Norway. There was only 3 events during the 1st Winter Paralympics which where: Alpine Skiing, Ice Sledge Speed Racing, and Cross-Country Skiing.

Today, the Winter Paralympics consist of five sports which include: Wheelchair Curling, Cross-Country Skiing, Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, and Ice Sledge Hockey.

I myself have been playing Sledge hockey for 7 years now, and have grown to love the sport.

For those of you that do not know what sledge hockey is, Sledge hockey is pretty much exactly like regular hockey except it is played while sitting in “sledges”.  Sledges consist of a bucket seat with runners to hold your legs out straight, and ice hockey skate blades on the bottom of the sledge. Players use two smaller sticks with ice picks on their butt-ends to propel themselves around the ice.

During the 2010 Paralympics, there will be 8 National teams competing for the gold medal in Sledge Hockey. Pool A will consist of: The Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea and The USA. Pool B consists of: Canada, Italy, Norway and Sweden.

In my pre-Paralympic predictions, I am going to take the USA coming out of Pool A on top, followed by Japan in second place, followed by South Korea in 3rd and the Czech Republic in 4th. You may be wondering why I predict the Czech’s to finish in last place in Pool A; The Czech Republic has only recently begun to play the game of sledge hockey, and South Korea’s world ranking before the Paralympics was 5th.

Pool B is going to be a more exciting pool to watch, especially for Canadian fans. I am going to predict that Canada, with their home-ice advantage, will come out of Pool B on top, followed very closely by Norway, Sweden in 3rd, and Italy rounding out the Pool.

Some of the players to watch for in Pool B are Norway’s Eskil Hagen; as well as fellow Norwegians, Helge Bjornstad, Rolf Einer Pedersen, Tommy Rovelstad, and Norway’s goaltender Roger Johansen. As for the Canadian national team, be on the look out for players such as Billy Bridges (who has been dubbed the Sidney Crosby of sledge hockey), as well as Bradley Bowden (a player who I would compare to Crosby’s teammate Evgeni Malkin). In goal for Canada is Paul Rosen, who is one of the top two goalies in the world today.

In Pool A, watch out for the USA’s Steve Cash and Taylor Chance; who have a really good chance of being in the top five in scoring when the tournament is all over. For the Japanese team, be on the look out for Takayuki Endo, and goalie Shinobu Fukushima.

My final predictions for the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal would have to be Canada winning gold --- I’m not trying to be biased here, I just think that because the Games are  in Canada, I will give them the edge. As for the silver medal, I would think Norway has a great chance of finishing 2nd, and the USA rounding out the top three.

Well Paralympic fans, i hope you enjoy the next 10 days of paralympic competition; I know I will!!

As many of you know, i am in Kelowna General Hospital, with a very week Hemoglobian(red blood cell) count.It has been an interesting story and here it is.

Last friday, me and my cousin Bre, decided to go for dinner at Brandts Creek Pub, so i thought why not get some groceries after dinner since i was so close. Now for longer trips out, i use mpower wheelchair.

I've been dealing with a nagging pressure sore on my right Ankle, due to having to wear a plastic brace all summer, so i was not wearing proper foot ware, and had been wearing socks,now when get groceries, i usually buckle my seat belt up with it through the straps of my back pack. So that evening i got into my power chair and was off to the pub,my back pack buckled up with me and resting on my foot plate.

When i had got there, and gone up the 6 or 7 foot long, stone/concrete ramp, my cousin bre looked down at my feel and said something to the affect of "OH MY GOSH WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR FOOT" it was then i looked down at my feet and saw a half shredded left sock with blood gushing out my three outter toes. Luckily, Bre is a First Aid attendant level 3,so while the staff at brandts called 911 for an ambulance, bre put constant pressure on my foot, which was now resting compfortably on a chair.

So, finally the ambulance arrived, and packed me up and whisked me off to the ER. When i had got to the ER, the Doctors, looked at my foot and decided to clean it and dress it,which they did. They then put a call into a plastic surgeon, for a consultation the next Monday morning.

So monday morning comes,and my buddy Dave and i get into the car for what we thought would be a 1 to 2 hour consultation....boy we where wrong. When we got to the hospital we met my Mom and walked down to Ambultory care to check in. Finally when we did see the dr, he pulled off the dressing and looked up and said "we're gonna keep you in here a few days and take these toes off" well...you could have knocked me over with a feather duster i was so shocked. So, we had now two hours to scramble to get ready for the amputation surgery.We called all the family, and had asked bre to bring some of my stuff down to the hospital.

So, two hours had past and it was time to go up to the OR. It was at that point my mom asked the nurses in ambultory care where she could put my backpack with my laptop in it, they told her that it can go on top of my wheelchair in the hall, till mom got back.

So, there we where in the OR waiting area, which i had see alot of before, just not recently.So after seeing the anesthetists and the plastic surgeon, it was go time. I woke up in the recovery room about 45 minutes later, feeling really good actually. It was at that point i noticed i had a indwelling cathiter in "ok no worries" i thought to myself, i usually have bladder infections anyway so this means i can just drink as much as i want.

After about, an hour in the recovery room i was finally taken up to my own room, a two bedroom,which was perfect, normally you get stuck in these 4 bedroom, loud,noisy rooms.It was at that point i saw my mom, who told me she had bad news, my backpack had been stolen off my wheelchair, which meant i had no laptop, which is an amazing! time killer in the hospital.So after a police report was filed all we had to do was either wait or make an insurance claime.

This is where the part of the story gets really...shall we say interesting. It was about 5 or 6 at night when i started to complain to the nurse about some pain in my lower stomach, she the looked down and noticed my indwelling cathiter was not draining.So decided to take the cathiter out and see what was going on. Usually at the tip of a indwelling cathiter is a balloon you blow up with Saline, which is purified salt water.So the nurse the proceeded to withdraw the saline from the cathiter, and that worked fine. But when she went to pull out the cathiter 1000 ML'S of blood came rushing out of the cathiter,which startled us alL,basically 1050 ml's blood is the equivilant to a full quart and a half of milk. It was at this time we i started to fell very light headed and dizzy, i the got sick to my stomach and started to seizure.

I don't remember much of the next 5 to 10 minutes all i remember is waking up after passing out,in a cold sweat. There where as many as 15 doctors and nurses huddiling over me. I proceeded to freak out as you may well expect. I had just woken up to the sound of "CANCAL CODE BLUE ON 4 WEST".My first thought was 'CODE BLUE! WHAT!" my second thought was 'ouch my pounding head" my thired thought like a 3 year old was "WHERE'S MY MOMMMY!" It was at this time i met the resperologist. Who the proceeded to tell me they where taking me down to ICU for observation. So i a flurry of activity which would be normally reserved for a major truama center they sent me wheeled me off to the ICU, 6 nurses in toe oxygen bagging my lungs to help me breath and squeezing IV fluid though my IV.

When i was admitted it ICU i saw my mom and step dad Glenn again. I still felt like death warmed over but at least i was going to be ok. Now here is where the story gets a bit personal from a family point of view. When everyone had left my room i looked up to the left and saw this beautiful shinning white light, with my Grandma who had just passed away 5 months prior i the light, she took my hand kissed my cheek and told me everything was going to be ok,and left. Now this left me with a immense sense of peace.

After about 4 to 5 hours in the ICU i had stabilized enough to where i could go back up to my room on the ward.Where i am writing this from today. I have seen multiple doctors almost on a daily basis. I've had my hemoglobian checked daily,it had dropped down to 62 at one point, it is supposed to be at a healthy 125. We have discovered though the Urologist that when the the OR nurse put in my indwelling cathiter and blew up the saline balloon, she had blew it up to short of inside the bladder,and it tore my Urethra....ya...not a fun injury at all. The doctors say i will be out of here as of Tuesday.

I would like to thank all of you, and my Mom,Dad,Aunt Kath,My Brother And glenn for all your support during this trying time. I will keep everyone updated!

 Well, the new sledge hockey season is upon us! the Kelowna sledge hockey team starts practice on Saturday, September 12th. The team still does not have the funds avalible to trabvel to Vancouver to play games, so at this moment we are just practicing.

Practices, are at 11:45-12:45, at Rutland Arena. The practices basically consist of, a warm-up then a scrimmage. As i said before, we have no funds to travel, but we i would be open to idea on how to raise funds to be able to travel, like a real sledge hockey team.

Also if anyone is interested in playing, please contact me here. Or at my e-mail address jeff.bourne@gmail.com.

 For people who are physically challenged or mentally challenged, accessibility is a big factor in regards to quality of life. As a physically challanged person myself, i feel I'm entitled to give my views on wheelchair accessibility. While i cannot speak about accessabilty in other parts of the world, i can comment on what I have experienced in terms of accessibility  in Canada and the U.S.A.

For the most part i would have to say that accessibility in Canada, and the U.S.A has improved over the last 15  years or so. Still, there are some areas that could use improvment. Usually when judging the accessiblity of a house or a builing, i look for: door width (ie. is this door going to be big enough for me go get through),  bathroom size, (is it going to be big enough for my manual chair to turn around it? Keep in mind, i do not have a very big chair, but still it is a concern), and the height of the sinks if i need to grab a glass of water or wash my hands. If I'm staying at someones house or in a hotel or motel, the big thing to look out for is the height of the bed (is this bed going to be too high to get into from my manual wheelchair?) Also in public buildings the first thing i look for is a wheelchair accessable bathroom, and elevator. Most buildings in the last century have elevators.

Now don't get me wrong, i'm not saying it is a totally accessible world out there, not by a long shot. Sometimes you will come across a building with doors so narrow, Flat Stanley couldn't enter them. Also you may come across a "accessible bathroom" that is not accessible at all! The door is too narrow, the toilet is way too low for you to get onto with out killing yourself, and the sink would be much too high. Also there is the odd hotel/motel that i have come across without any wheelchair accessilbilty at all

In conclusion, i give todays accessablity a "thumbs up" with some room for improvment.