On April 6, Ryan Straschnitzki of Airdrie, Alberta‘s life changed forever when the bus carrying his Humboldt Broncos hockey team was involved in a horrible traffic accident on a rural Saskatchewan highway on its way to a playoff game. Sixteen people were killed and 13 injured in the accident, and 19-year-old Ryan was left paralyzed from the chest down.
On May 7, Gene Orlick of Orlicks Transport, a Trucks For Change Network member carrier based in Rocky View Alberta , contacted T4C looking for help transporting a special wheelchair he had arranged to be donated to Ryan from Connecticut to Alberta, a distance of over 4,000 kilometres. Within hours, T4C had connected Orlick with David Carruth of ONE For Freight, another T4C member carrier based in Milton Ontario which regularly services the U.S. northeast and western Canada.
On May 23, after additional assistance from T4C members Trans-Frt McNamara and Kal Tire, the wheelchair was delivered to Ryan, who is undergoing extensive physiotherapy, and hopes to be able to walk again in the future. Said Ryan “In the meantime, I’ll be using this for sure, and it’s going to help with just everything.”
Said Carruth “Trucking is a very stressful industry, but when you’re doing stuff like this, it makes everything worth it.” We couldn’t agree more.
Read the full Today’s Trucking story at https://www.todaystrucking.com/trucking-industry-delivers-for-humboldt-survivor/