Man turns brain injury into cross-country campaign

Doctors told David McGuire he’d never walk again following a 2005 stroke that left him in a coma for nine days.

Instead, this summer he ran from St. John, N.L. to Victoria, B.C., as a part of A Run to Remember, a campaign to bring awareness to the invisible disability: brain injury.

At one point doctors had to treat his swollen, bleeding brain by removing part of it and putting it in liquid nitrogen.

“When I left the hospital, I was a different version of me,” he said, adding he struggled with memory and emotional control.

“We’re incredibly lucky to live in Canada where I got the services that I did,” he said before meeting Mayor Gregor Robertson Tuesday to share his campaign. “What I did realize was the lack of resources once you leave the hospital.”

Around 170,000 people a year are affected by brain injuries.


Mayor Gregor Robertson and David McGuire (right) pose for photos Tuesday when McGuire stopped in at Vancouver City Hall to share about his journey with A Run to Remember, a campaign that works to educate people and raise awareness about brain injuries. STEPHANIE IP, 24 HOURS