Help Oliver get back on his feet…. Literally.

As you may have heard, our brother, Oliver Vajda severely broke his left leg last Friday, October 20th, and underwent surgery at VGH on Monday. The surgeon repaired the high fibula break and completely torn deltoid and syndesmosis ligaments. They cut his leg open on both sides, placed a metal plate and 2 screws to repair the broken fibula, then used a tight rope technique to pull back his tibia and fibula together so the ligaments will be able to grow back together.

Needless to say, he's in a lot of pain.

Whether you know him as Professor Oli, Coach Oli, Firefighter Oli, or teammate Oli, he is a huge pillar in the community, always lifting up others whenever he can, and always leading by example. We've all felt him pour into our lives as much as he can, now it's our turn to return the love.

With sports, competition, and coaching being such a huge part of Oliver's life, he knows first-hand how resistance is required for growth. Resistance can be broken down into a willingness to suffer and to embrace hardship for personal growth. It requires discipline and hard work to achieve results, as the mind and body are forged in fire to become stronger. Most of us do this willingly to attain fitness goals, but the real truth is that all of the training is just preparing us for when life hits us with unexpected adversity. It's only then, we find out what we are made of and we can lean into our training. Having known Oliver for years, I can attest he doesn't see himself as a victim of this, it's quite the contrary. He is sure to take on this adversity head-on and inspire many throughout the process. To regain the full athletic function of his leg is a guaranteed mental and physical grind.

If you know Oli, it's only a matter of time before he gets back at it, stronger than ever; but in the meantime, he's going to need our help with wage losses and rehabilitation costs. As a paid-on call firefighter, he will be entitled to sick benefits through employment insurance, but as we all know, that's minimal, and as a self-employed fitness instructor, he has no sick benefits. The wage loss will be substantial, leaving a financial gap, and that's where we come in, to help bridge that gap for him.

Oliver is one of the strongest individuals you will ever meet, we'll be in his corner, just like he's been in so many of ours. He has made a huge impact on our lives, let's show him the same love as he heals!