Two years ago, Corey Dunn was lying in a hospital bed not knowing if he would ever walk again.
Today, Corey is transforming his recovery into a journey of gratitude. He is walking 570 kilometres—10 kilometres for each of the 57 days he spent in hospital—to raise funds for Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) Neurosurgery Department.
After months of worsening back pain, August 2023 Corey suddenly lost feeling in his legs and was rushed to the Emergency Department at KHSC in August of 2023. Doctors discovered a severe spinal infection that had eaten away at his vertebrae, leaving his spinal cord compressed.
“I describe it as a beaver notching out of a tree,” Corey recalls. “It ate away at part of the bone of the spine, and once that notch was made, a cyst popped out and pinched off my spinal cord, which is how I lost the feeling.”
He underwent surgery in which two metal rods and 12 screws were inserted in his back. After his hospital stay, Corey spent many more months in rehabilitation. The 43-year-old—who was training for a strongman competition and once pulled a fire truck for a charity fundraiser—now had to relearn how to stand, balance and take his first steps again.
“That first month I was in the hospital right after surgery, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to walk again or not until I stood up for the first time at Providence Care Hospital and took a couple steps,” Corey says.
Corey—who works as an Environmental Services Attendant at KHSC’s Hotel Dieu Hospital site—is now giving back by trying to raise $10,000 in honour of the health-care professionals who helped him.
“I wanted to do a fundraiser. I didn’t have it easy, but I had it easier than other people,” Corey says. “So, I figured if me doing this makes what I went through easier for the next person, then it's worth it.”
Walking isn’t pain-free for Corey. He still experiences constant nerve pain and knows his mobility will never fully return. But instead of focusing on what he lost, Corey chooses to focus on what he gained: the chance to walk again, and the chance to help others.
Corey’s fundraiser goes from September 1 to October 31. To make a donation in support of Corey, see the Corey Dunn's Trek for KHSC Neurosurgery fundraising page.