Family members and old friends are rallying around Aldergrove's Stockbrocks family in their time of crisis.
With the help of old friends at the Langley School District office, a volunteer committee has put together a fund-raising event for Mark Stockbrocks on Sunday afternoon, April 22, in the old Sts. Joachim and Ann Catholic Church on 272 Street.
Mark was a tall and very fit young man, aiming for a career as a fire fighter, when he collapsed at the Grey Cup game in Vancouver last November. He was rushed to hospital, where it was discovered that he had suffered a cerebral haemorrage.
Mark was in a coma for several weeks and when he finally awoke he was paralyzed on his left side. He remains a patient at G.F. Strong and is confined to a wheelchair. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
His mother, Pat, a retired school district employee, has rented an apartment in Vancouver to be at his side.
She is looking forward to bringing him home to Aldergrove in the near future as he continues his rehabilitation, but for the foreseeable future he will be confined to a wheelchair.
The fundraiser is aimed at helping make the Stockbrocks home wheelchair accessible, among other needs.
The Stockbrocks are a close-knit family, as Pat's husband passed away 15 years ago, leaving her to raise Mark and his siblings, Matthew and Alison, on her own. And they were doing great — Matthew became an air traffic controller at Victoria and Vancouver airports, Alison is a nurse at Delta hospital and Mark taught English in Japan for several years before coming back to Aldergrove to work for the school district and work toward a fire fighter career.
Then, first Mark suffered the cerebral haemorrage and a stroke, and just three weeks after he awoke from his coma, Matthew was diagnosed with acute leukemia. Thankfully, Matthew has since recovered, is in remission and is back at work.
All of the family and their friends are hoping for a similar recovery for Mark, but it may take years of therapy.
The April 22 event will feature entertainment by a Canadian jazz trumpet star who also grew up in this area, Brad Turner, and his wife, singer Tia (Wautier). Refreshment will be served, including a cash bar, and there will be door prizes, a 50-50 draw and silent auction.
Tickets are $20 each and can be ordered by calling Joan Beck at 604-534-7891, ext. 353, or email to jbeck@sd35.bc.ca