Trevor Lee Shine Pierce was the young age of 33 when he suddenly passed away in a horrific, unimaginable accident at home on Feb. 26. Trevor was loading his sled onto a friend’s sled deck in preparation for going riding the next day. When Trevor hit the ramp, it fell down, then came back up (like stepping on a rake effect) and hit him in the head.
At the hospital that night I was told that Trevor had “unsurvivable injuries.” We decided to take him to Kamloops to have a second opinion. On Feb. 28, the Kamloops doctors confirmed Trevor’s injuries and declared him brain dead.
Trevor was a one-of-a-kind man – he was considerate, funny, friendly, affectionate, thoughtful, charming, cheerful, courageous and many, many other things. He went above and beyond with everything he did.
On March 3, Trevor helped 13 more people. He will never know any of them, but his organ donations went to five different people. Two of whom, the transplant team said, were rare matches and his donations were “like winning the lottery” for them. His eyes, the doctors said, will give eight people the gift of vision. The transplant doctors said that the fact that my cousin administered CPR (even without mouth to mouth) maintained the viability of his organs for transplant.
While I feel blessed to know that parts of him will live on in others, I want everybody to know that this was a preventable accident. New sled ramps (apparently) come with a “safety dog” to prevent the levering that killed Trevor, but over time they break off. I’ve now learned that many of these exact ramps get resold without the safety mechanism and go on to endanger the lives of so many others because nobody knows they’re even supposed to be there.
Everybody must take precautions with these ramps. They must be tied down every time you use them. I’ve heard that another young man died in B.C. this year from the exact same loading conditions and I have no idea how many more are out there.
Please remember my husband and tie down your sled ramps to ensure your family isn’t left without their father, mother, son, daughter.
Thank you for your attention.
Shanelle Pierce
Williams Lake
