Helping Drew get over the top

Jeff Green | Aug 20, 2014

The Drew Cumpson Indiegogo fundraising campaign is set to end in 5 days, and the goal of $35,000 is within reach. As of Tuesday evening, August 19, the total raised was $28,370, only $6,830 short of the goal.

That's quite a jump from the $7,500 that had been raised back in July when the first story about the campaign ran in the Frontenac News. Since then the campaign has been embraced in Kingston, where Drew lives, in Guelph, where he is enrolled in university, as well as in Frontenac County, where he is from.

The original plan was to spend the money raised on the operation to implant a diaphragmatic pacemaker into Drew so that he would not need to be on a respirator. This would enable him to leave St. Mary's Hospital, move in with his family and continue his education at Guelph University. While the campaign has been going, he has heard that the cost of the operation may be covered by OHIP so some of the money raised may be diverted to other needs he has, which are many. He is still working on the fundraising campaign, but is also working to find a location and make further arrangements for his operation.

The campaign is receiving a boost in its final days through the efforts of the Leaders in Training at the Sydenham Canoe Club summer camp. They ran barbeques at the camp and each camper paid $5 for the lunch. The $300 proceeds will be given to Drew. “Some parents even sent along some extra money when they heard that the proceeds were going to a good cause”, said one of the fund-raising team members Ian Ramzy. “It isn’t much, but every little bit counts”

Some of the older campers, LIT and coaches remember Drew from when he used to work at the Township of South Frontenac Day Camp held at Sydenham Point.

“He was very athletic. and  he was always smiling and singing”, said Kayleen Lambert of the Canoe Cub. “He was really good to the kids. The younger campers had never met him, but were intrigued by the description of the lung pacemaker, and were saddened to hear that he would be unable to go home until he has this device.”