Chilliwack (with files from Sam Waddington/GoFundMe) – Since February 6, The Vedder Mountain Bike Co. family has some unfortunate news to share about one of their own.
Spencer Arnold, one of the founders of the shop suffered a traumatic accident on Sunday February 6th while riding his mountain bike on Vedder Mountain.
He broke his C6 and C7 vertebrae and has lost feeling from his chest down. Spencer was sent to Vancouver General where he underwent extensive surgery to stabilize his spine.
The good news is he’s regained some function and feeling in his upper limbs which is a positive sign. He will remain at the hospital until he’s been cleared to be transferred to GF Strong for rehabilitation and recovery.
UPDATE February 9 from his wife Donna:
Spencer has a complete spinal injury at C6, which means that his current level of function is permanent. He has some limited mobility in his hands and arms, and they are hopeful that this can be improved with rehab.
They are going to work hard and they are hoping for miracles, but they are also starting to come to grips with the reality of these injuries and how life is going to drastically change for them.
They are absolutely blown away by all the words of love, encouragement, and support and all the donations from the community. It means the world to them.
There is no doubt that the road ahead will be challenging and place a new financial burden on them in their immediate future and throughout their lifetime. We don’t know quite yet what the full extent of this will be, but we will continue to share the details with you moving forward.
We want to ask everyone to keep helping share their story and keep them in your thoughts.
A Go Fund Me campaign (click here) has been started to help support Spencer and Donna as they navigate this next chapter in their lives.
From Sam Waddington:
This news hits our community like a freight train. On Sunday February 6th, Spencer Arnold had a bad crash while mountain biking on Vedder Mountain and broke his back and needed to be airlifted off of the mountain by Chilliwack Search and Rescue. Spencer is one of the owners of Vedder Mountain Bike Company, across from my store Mt. Waddington’s Outdoors, and is a pillar of the outdoor community here in Chilliwack.If you can help, please give generously, as the road ahead is yet uncertain for Spencer, his wife Donna, and their pup Fern. Let’s show them how our community comes together for one of our own.
