Family builds house to raise funds for injured Manitoba hockey player Braden Pettinger

The family of a 20-year-old hockey player who was seriously injured during a Manitoba Junior Hockey League game last year has put their skills to good use in an unusual fundraising effort.

Braden Pettinger's cousin, Tyson Pettinger, and his father, who both build houses for a living, have spearheaded the construction of a house that is now ready to sell.

"Well, dad and I have been building houses for quite a few years," Pettinger said. "When we first heard the news of what had happened to Braden, of course the initial reaction is 'What can we do? Can we do anything?'" 

Pettinger said they decided to use their skills to raise some money for Braden's recovery. 

Braden fractured his C5 vertebra in several places after colliding with the boards at a Portage Terriers game. He has been at Winnipeg's Health Science Centre since and continues a long, slow recovery. 

Tyson Pettinger and his father started building the 1,250-square-foot open-concept house in March and it's now complete and ready to be moved to a new owner's property. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and currently sits on a property near Elgin, Man., about 230 km west of Winnipeg and 50 km southwest of Brandon.

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The Pettingers put in three months of long, hard hours to build the house, but thinking of Braden kept them going.

"Keeping Braden in our thoughts and prayers has kept us motived, and if we had any hard days, we thought, well, Braden's got 10,000 times more hard days facing him," Pettinger said. "It kept us motived." 

"Anybody that does construction or builds homes for people puts their hearts into it regardless," he said. "But ya, for sure, everything we did, I tried to keep family involved and keep that a priority through the whole process." 

The family had lots of help from businesses and people they work with in their house-building business and had many donations of materials, supplies and help, Pettinger said.

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"It's been remarkable to see people come … just locally; neighbours have come and offered any kind of help required," Pettinger said. "We had people ... from Melville, Sask., come out and help. They wanted to show they cared." 

The house is listed for $107,500 and Pettinger said people have come and looked at it, but no offers have been made. Money raised from the house will be used to help fund Braden's recovery and ongoing expenses.

Pettinger said he'd be thrilled if it sold for more than the listing price, given the cause.

"I would be so thrilled if one of my houses sold for more than what I was asking.… If it did, that would be just remarkable," Pettinger said. "I can't even imagine what that would be like."

Braden is still in hospital but hopes he can move to a rehab facility in the near future, Pettinger said.