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South Surrey father celebrated for perseverance

South Surrey's RIchard Morrison is among eight individuals who will be recognized next month for rising above extreme challenges.
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Richard Morrison

A South Surrey man paralyzed last year in a freak hockey accident is among individuals who will be celebrated next month for rising above extreme challenges.

Richard Morrison is to receive a BC Rehab Gert Vorsteher Memorial Award – worth $5,000 – in a ceremony at noon on May 8 in Vancouver.

The awards are presented annually to individuals with disabilities who have demonstrated “remarkable determination towards pursuing their rehabilitation goals and, in turn, have regained their own form of independence.”

Applications were received from across the province; Morrison was one of eight winners selected.

He was rendered a quadriplegic a year ago, after tripping over a goalie pad during a drop-in hockey game and hitting the boards head-first.

He spent 6½ hours in surgery, five weeks in Vancouver General Hospital’s spinal unit and 4½ months at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre – where the awards will be presented – before returning home to his wife and two young children on Oct. 30.

Among others to be recognized next month are a man who was left wheelchair-bound from a spinal-cord injury suffered when a missile attack catapulted him from the roof of his home in Iraq; and, a single father left a quadruple amputee following a blood-poisoning incident.

All award recipients underwent rehabilitation at GF Strong.



Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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