Original at: www.whitehorsestar.com/archives/storydetail.lasso?r=40710
Strangers, close friends and the Mounties rescued three young Yukon brothers
separated from their parents after a highway accident near Fort Nelson, B.C.
Whitehorse musician Remy Rodden, his wife, Marlynn Bourque, and their three
sons, Nathaniel, 10, Miguel, eight and Niko, two, were driving home on the Alaska
Highway early last Friday morning when their van hit a truck parked on the side
of the road.
The family was driving home to Whitehorse from Saltspring Island, B.C. Rodden
and Bourque had spent a couple of weeks in Europe, including a week in France
for an environmental conference.
Rodden is a conservation education coordinator with the territorial renewable
resources department. Their boys had been staying with an aunt on Saltspring
and the parents met up with them there before heading home.
Rodden broke his foot, and his eye socket was damaged as well. Bourque broke
both the tibia and fibula bones in her left leg, and little Niko - who will
turn three this Sunday - has a broken collar bone.
The family was taken to the Fort Nelson General Hospital but Rodden and Bourque
had to be medivaced to Grande Prairie, Alta.
Fort Nelson x-ray technician Josie Kortchevich took the stranded boys into her
own home until arrangements could be made to get the three home.
"The thought that kept going through my head was, I wonder what would happen
if it was me and who would be there to look after my kids?" Kortchevich
said in an interview.
"The boys were awesome, they handled things really, really well,"
she said. "The little guy was a little bit uncomfortable because of his
injuries. He woke up a couple times during the night on Friday and then he had
a really good sleep Saturday night."
Friday night, Kortchevich, her son and the three Rodden boys had a slumber party
in the living room.
"The first night, I don't think it had really sunk in just yet until until
everything settled down and the lights went out and then it was kind of like,
'Er, we're kind of scared.'" said Kortchevich. "So I said, 'Come on
out, we'll camp out out here.'"
It was too cold to play outside last Saturday, so the children kept occupied
with a Sony Playstation and computer games.
"Remy called a couple times on Saturday, so they knew he was OK and that
Marlynn was doing all right, even though she was hurt," said Josie. "You
could tell their spirits lifted after they talked to their dad."
Because they didn't know how long Kortchevich would have the boys, her supervisor,
Avaleen Reynolds, cleared the clinic schedule for Saturday.
Kortchevich and Brian Redford, the hospital administrator, met at the towing
company's compound at 9 a.m. Sunday, grabbed as much of the family's gear as
they could, loaded it and the boys into Redford's Jeep and headed to the airport.
On the Whitehorse end, friends had been trying to find someone to drive down
and retrieve the boys, said David Petkovich. He and his wife, Andrea McColeman,
thought about going, but were leery about such a long haul on icy roads.
McColeman, a musician, thought of fellow Longest Night Ensemble musician Don
Bishop, who's an RCMP sergeant and the Yukon RCMP's airplane pilot when he's
not playing trumpet.
"I was thinking, 'Well, that's quite a long shot, but it's just a phone
call anyway,'" said Petkovich.
That phone call led to Bishop dialing up Chief Supt. Darrell Madill, the Yukon
RCMP's commanding officer - "just a super guy," said Petkovich.
The official, and enthusiastic, thumbs-up were handed down, and at 6:30 a.m.
Sunday, Bishop, Petkovich and another Rodden family friend, Juergen Korn, were
winging their way towards Fort Nelson. Bishop's wife sent along food and toys
for the children, who assisted Bishop as "co-pilots" on the way back.
"I'm just so impressed with the RCMP," said Kathy Egli, Korn's wife,
who met the group at the Whitehorse airport. When the boys called their mom,
they told her about their police plane trip.
"I heard them telling her they were co-pilots and were excited about that,"
said Egli.
She thought the boys would want to go home instead of to the renewable resources
department's annual family Christmas party, which was that afternoon. Not the
Rodden boys.
"They wanted to go to it," said Petkovich. "So they went right
to this Christmas party. Even little Niko, with his broken collar bone. He's
a real trooper."
Egli added, "The older two boys look after him so well. It's an incredible
family. They're so close."
Traditionally, Rodden and Bob Kuiper play at that Christmas party. Kuiper played
alone this year.
Since the accident, wildlife management branch secretary Donna Milne has fielded
a flood of calls from people who want to help. She's set up an account at the
Bank of Nova Scotia in Rodden's and Bourque's name, and they're collecting money
to restock the shrinking firewood supply for the family's rural home, which
is being cared for by a house-sitter.
As well, some of the money will go toward Christmas presents for the boys -
and a birthday gift for little Niko. The rest will go toward helping once the
couple are back home. Several businesses in town have offered big donations
already, said Milne.
There's also an effort to collect a list of people who can help the family with
chores around the property once they get home.
Egli is experiencing the same thing.
"I just can't believe the number of phone calls we're getting from people
asking, 'How can I help, how can I help?'" Egli said.
She's keeping a list of names and makes a call when she needs to. All three
boys are staying with her, Korn and their own two young children, who immediately
took to their new friends.
Nathaniel and Miguel are homeschooled, but Trish Eccles' son Bryson invited
them to go to school with him.
Eccles has been taking the children when Egli needs a break and picks the boys
up from school as well. Other people have dropped off food and offered to take
care of the children if she needs a break, said Egli.
At Golden Horn Elementary School's Christmas concert tonight, Rodden's song
Oh Caribou is on the performance list. His eldest two sons will help sing it.
Yesterday in Fort Nelson, Kortchevich and hospital maintenance worker Les Grice
went through the van and collected the rest of the Rodden family's belongings.
A family friend from Whitehorse will head down to Fort St. John over Christmas
and he'll be collecting his friends' gear.
Bourque said this morning from the Grande Prairie hospital that the support
from the people of the North has been overwhelming.
A 31-centimetre pin and screws were put into her leg during surgery. She's hoping
her doctor will be able to tell her today when she can go home.
"I hope it is before Sunday, because my little guy is going to be three
on Sunday."
Rodden flew early this morning from Grande Prairie to an Edmonton hospital to
see an eye specialist, said Bourque. His eye will probably need surgery.
"I would like to be stronger right now and moving around some more, but
it will improve," said Bourque. "I've been feeling a bit weak yesterday
and today."
She said she's looking forward to going home and seeing her boys.
"But they're in really good hands with amazing friends up there."
"We're very blessed that way."
She talked to Niko and Miguel this morning and said it sounded like they're
doing well.
"I'm really proud of them, actually."