SELKIRK, Man. — Classmates of a nine-year-old boy in Selkirk, Man., are rallying around the youngster to help him and his family through an infection that cost him a leg.
It started as a simple scrape on the knee for young David Stevenson but turned into a bloodstream infection called saphylococcus aureus.
He was flown by air ambulance to Edmonton for specialized care last fall, but his family was told doctors would have to amputate David's left leg below the knee.
David’s parents still have to drive him from Selkirk to Winnipeg for weekly appointments and the cost of the gas for the 68-kilometre round trip is starting to take a toll on the large family.
So his friends at the Robert Smith School in Selkirk decided to help, staging a bake sale and convincing their fellow students to empty their piggy banks.
Staff and parents at the school chipped in another $1,000.
That generosity has tugged at the heart strings of David’s family.
"I can't thank them enough for everything that they're doing," said Daniel Stevenson, the boy's father. "They really touched my heart and I'm happy that my son has friends like this."
As for David, he is using a wheelchair for now but is determined to walk again with a prosthetic. He's a resilient boy who his dad said only cried once when he learned he was going to lose his leg.
"There's still a bug inside me from when I got an infection," he explained. "That's why I take lots of medicine."
