Stranger helps single mother who lost arm
CBC News | Posted: January 28, 2016 4:33 PM | Last Updated: January 28, 2016
Larry Gullison sets out to raise $75K to buy prosthetic arm for painter, Amanda Burtt, after October accident
Amanda Burtt doesn't remember the accident.
She was driving on Route 8 last October, turned the vehicle too sharply, left the road, was thrown from the vehicle and hit a tree.
A painter by trade, she lost her right arm to amputation as a result of the accident and spent a month in a coma.
Today, the 34-year-old single mother is still recovering at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation in Fredericton, dealing with partial paralysis on her right side and lingering speech problems.
"It takes a lot of determination and a positive attitude," she said.
Now, thanks to the kindness of strangers, she could soon have a $75,000 prosthetic arm.
"I was shocked," said Burtt.
"It's amazing. It's something that, in my heart, it's huge."
Larry Gullison had never met Burtt, but as a contractor who hires tradespeople he felt compelled to reach out to try and help Burtt by raising money to purchase a myoelectric prosthetic arm from the University of New Brunswick's Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
You're supposed to reach out to strangers in need. - Larry Gullison
"It's like the old saying they taught us in Sunday school — 'The more you give, the more you get,'" said Gullison.
"It's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to reach out to strangers in need," said Gullison,
"Part of it is the colour of my hair. The older you get, toward the end of your life you want to give back."
Donations to the Amanda Burtt Fund are being accepted through the Royal Bank on Queen Street in Fredericton and through Gullison at 541 Riverside Drive in Fredericton.