Farmer speaks of losing his leg in 2007 auger accident
Posted 4 months ago
By Glen Hallick
This year’s Harvest Celebration for the Manitoba Farmers With Disabilities (MFWD) was highlighted by the story of one of its future board members.
Thirty-year-old Jason Lafreniere lost one of his legs a few years ago.
“My accident happened in July 2007, I was wrapped up in a grain auger,” Lafreniere said during the Sept. 11 dinner at the Elm Creek Community Hall. “My day started off pretty much the same as any other day. Going out, cleaning grain.”
Lafreniere, who farms 6,900 hectares near Gilbert Plains, had a young co-worker with him and was told if something went wrong to shut off the main breaker.
“Four hours later, I was wrapped up in the auger. It was the longest day of my life. Wrapped up in there for a couple of hours,” Lafreniere said.
After surgery and a week’s rehabilitation in Dauphin, he was transferred to a Winnipeg hospital.
MY WEDDING
“They weren’t going to get me a prosthetic [leg] for a year. I told them I didn’t have that kind of time to be wasting, December 22, 2007 was my wedding. So I made very clear to [the Workers’ Compensation Board] that I needed to be walking by October.”
Lafreniere described his prosthetic.
“I adapted very well to this leg. It’s all computerized. It’s worth $67,000.”
Then he demonstrated the amount of flexibility the prosthetic has.
“I’m probably the only one here that can chew the gum off of the bottom of my shoe,” he joked as he turned the leg around so that the shoe’s sole faced him.
Lafreniere was told by doctors an above-the-knee amputee cannot run. And he was keenly interested in going back to work as a rodeo bull fighter.
With the assistance from Manitoba Farmers with Disabilities, he was able to get a $14,000 running leg equipped with a knee.
“One week after getting my running leg I learned to run,” he said.
Lafreniere has a year’s training for bull fighting and hopes to get back into it. As well, he has been rock climbing, can skate and is planning to ski.
Now active in the organization, Lafreniere participates with safety days, talking at schools and public events and helping out with MFWD.
MFWD BEGINNINGS
Derek Armstrong, MFWD chair, said the organization had its beginnings during 1997-98.
Neil Enns lost a hand and an arm in an auger accident during the fall of 1997. Enns began contacting other farmers who suffered serious injuries in farm accidents and by November 1998, forty of them founded the MFWD with Enns as president.
Armstrong said the organization promotes the importance of farm safety and provides support for farm families.
One of their latest projects is the creation of an interactive CD/DVD. Justin Morison said the idea of the project, in the development stage, is to get kids playing the safety games with each other.
“Rather they make the mistakes on the game rather than on the farm,” he said.
The MFWD is based out of Elm Creek. For more information online go to www.fwdmanitoba.com or call 436-3181.
The Abigails and Take Five provided the entertainment while Danny's Whole Hog provided the pork dinner.
