AN injured Canadian soldier is one step closer to life-changing surgery, thanks to the fundraising efforts of a small Manitoba community.
Last weekend, Fisher Branch raised more than $10,000 for Cpl. Chris Klodt at a special social held in his honour.
Klodt was shot in the neck on July 7 during a Taliban ambush outside Khandahar, just four weeks before he was to return home to plan his wedding and the birth of his first child, Jonathan.
Klodt is paralyzed from the chest down and plans on using the money for stem-cell injections in Canada or overseas. In animals, studies have shown stem cells have helped repair nerve and spinal-cord damage, as well as chronic illnesses such as muscular dystrophy.
The surgery can cost up to $25,000.
"I'm so grateful," Klodt said Wednesday. "I didn't think it would be anywhere near that (much)."
More than 200 people attended the Fisher Branch social Dec. 16, including dozens of people who drove up from Winnipeg and had never met Klodt or his family.
Klodt's fiancée, Deena Schreyer, grew up in Fisher Branch and said she was amazed by her hometown's efforts to help give Klodt a chance to walk again. Only about 450 people live there.
"I'm very grateful for the awareness it raised for the military and supporting our troops," she said.
The pair is flying home to Hamilton Dec. 23. Klodt is scheduled to see Hamilton-based neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Rathbone about stem-cell injection treatment in January. A half-inch bullet that shattered two of his vertebrae is still lodged in his spine.
Klodt is adamant about getting stem-cell injections whether a Canadian surgeon such as Rathbone will do it or not.
If Rathbone denies him that opportunity within Canada, Klodt said he'll travel as far as Portugal or China to be mobile again.
"If he says no, then we're on the road again finding someone that will (give the injections)," Klodt said.
