A survivor story
Burn victim, Vance Easter, says positive attitude aided his recovery
Anyone who has ever stepped into his welding shop or encountered him on a jobsite, would agree Vance Easter loves to talk. One could engage Easter about the weather, politics or a host of other topics.
Nearly seven years after a devastating welding shop fire that left him severely burned, the Unionvale resident is still talking up a storm and with an even broader range of topics. One of the big conversation pieces now, though, is his recovery from the life-threatening burns he sustained in the Sept. 24, 2011, fire, and his drive to continue to exceed the expectations of medical professionals.
“It was bed or wheelchair; I didn’t have a choice,” he recalls one of the realities presented to him a year or so into his recovery.
He insisted on crutches. From there, he taught himself to walk again and, a year and a half ago, he proudly walked his daughter, Jewel, down the aisle on her wedding day. And he danced. At some point during his 51week stay on the Halifax burn unit, Jewel had expressed her desire to have him walk her down the aisle.
“I was so happy to be able to succeed in what she asked me to do,” he said.
“Besides, I don’t like taking ‘no’ for an answer,” he said in demonstrating his determination to strive for greater and greater range of motion. “And to prove to people, ‘if you don’t get up off your ass, nobody else is going to do it for you,” he said in recalling advice his late father used to give.
He’s even invented some gadgets to assist him in his progression, like pairing up a painter’s stir stick with a headband, ponytail holders and a piece of plumbing pipe to help move his fingers; and bending a piece of flat aluminum in his welding shop to create a splint that allows him to apply pressure on his wrist and forearm while he is relaxing, all with an aim to achieving greater flexibility. He said the homemade devices are working.
He prefers to remain positive and is proud of his daughter for declaring his hospital room in Halifax a negativity-free area. He wants to share his message about the power of a positive attitude and determination. He did that last year at a meeting of the P.E.I. Workers Compensation.
This Sunday at 7 p.m. Vance and his wife June Easter will share that message at the O’Leary United Church, the church where he walked his daughter down the aisle, before a crowd that largely knows of the life-threatening and lifechanging accident.
He will talk about the accident and June will share the Halifax experience, before Vance picks up the story again to recount his return to P.E.I. and his ongoing recovery.
There will be a freewill offering accepted to support the church’s siding project. A time of fellowship and refreshments will follow.
The presentation in front of a hometown crowd will also serve as a rehearsal for a presentation Easter will give during the Canadian Burn Survivors Conference in Halifax in June. “You’ve always got to keep a goal ahead of yourself to get to where you want to be,” he insists.