Update to condition of young boy strangled by lanyard at school

CALGARY – We have an update on a tragic incident that happened three years ago, at Bearspaw School west of Calgary.

When Nicholas Kitzul was in grade three, he went to use the school washroom with a non breakaway lanyard. He was found by another student hanging unconscious by the cord which was stuck in the stall door.

Nicholas suffered brain injuries after the incident because his lanyard has become tangled on the bathroom door and as a result, lost his sight, speech and use of his arms and legs.

The boy’s parents are thankful for the community, which is helping pay for his ongoing treatments south of the border.

The Bearspaw Lions Club had a fundraiser Sunday for the local family struck by the devastating accident.

“It goes from tragic to tragedy where you’re absolutely distraught with the pain they’re going through, to the admiration of the courage that they have displayed as a family and the commitment to their son,” Ward Anderson, the Bearspaw Lions Club President said.

Kamila Kitzul, Nicholas’s mom says it’s been stressful, very busy and a lot of work but their family has been doing everything they can to heal their son’s brain.

“We’ve been to the states three times and it’s a lot of work but we’re confident that we can get our little boy back.”

Nicholas has been getting stem cell treatments in the United States and the alternative treatment is not covered here.  His family says the improvements are encouraging.

“Of the most wonderful things, is that we can communicate with him now. We can ask him a question and he’ll smile and say yeah and if he doesn’t like something he will frown,” Kitzul said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Of the most wonderful things, is that we can communicate with him now. We can ask him a question and he'll smile and say yeah and if he doesn't like something he will frown," Kitzul said.

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Members of the Bearspaw community hope the money raised at this charity ball will allow the family to continue with Nicholas’ treatments.

“It has been absolutely wonderful. What we’ve seen in terms of improvement is night and day from a boy that couldn’t see who had huge spinal problems, who was fed through a stomach tube all the time, but really didn’t respond to any stimulus or anybody. Now, we’re seeing that he recognizes faces when you talk to him, he looks right at you,” Anderson said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It has been absolutely wonderful. What we've seen in terms of improvement is night and day from a boy that couldn't see who had huge spinal problems, who was fed through a stomach tube all the time, but really didn't respond to any stimulus or anybody. Now, we're seeing that he recognizes faces when you talk to him, he looks right at you," Anderson said.

Next week is Nicholas’ 11th birthday. Part of the celebration will be Nicolas being able to eat a piece of cake with his mouth, not a feeding tube.

“It’s overwhelming. We are so grateful to everybody that has helped us out and this is just an amazing event. We are so happy and honoured to be a part of it. You can tell that our son is really loved in our community and is a great little boy,” Kitzul said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's overwhelming. We are so grateful to everybody that has helped us out and this is just an amazing event. We are so happy and honoured to be a part of it. You can tell that our son is really loved in our community and is a great little boy," Kitzul said.

The incident sparked a province-wide ban on the non-breakaway lanyard cords.

Originally, they had been used as hallway and washroom passes in schools across Alberta.