A Nova Scotia man who is used to fighting fires is now fighting to stay financially afloat.
Jason Oliver has a brain injury that has left him unable to work; he’s now at risk of losing his home and hobby farm.
Oliver, a volunteer firefighter with the Summerville Fire Department, spends much of his time outside with his seven goats and two cows, Archie and Edith, on his little farm on his home property in Summerville, N.S.
With the birds chirping and the deer frequently wandering through, he calls it his little slice of “heaven.”
“I love animals,” he told Global News. “It’s peaceful, relaxing — good on the mind.”
A mind that’s on the mend following a traumatic brain injury, acquired in a motorcycle accident last July.
“He messaged me at work and said he was having a great day, he was going slow, taking it easy, and the boys were really good with him. And the next call I got was from his best friend, Ryan,” said his partner Deborah Duder, fighting back tears.
“They found him in a gully, on the south of Rawdon Road and LifeFlight was coming. So I went right to the hospital…. His brain was full of fluid, his adrenal glands had exploded and he was bleeding out.”
She said Oliver underwent multiple surgeries and doctors weren’t sure he would make it. But Oliver defied the odds and after a two-month hospital stay, he was well enough to go home, though his road to recovery was far from over.
“It’s been difficult,” she said. “He can’t work, of course, and my hours at work have been a lot less because I have to stay home a lot more.”
She added that the bills are piling up and the pair are behind on their mortgage.
“We’re afraid for them (the animals) sometimes, so it puts pressure on us. So we’re doing what we can to get through.”
The couple is now on the brink of losing their home and hobby farm, which has been a therapeutic sanctuary for Oliver on his healing journey.
The couple had also hoped to one day turn the farm into a place where others can visit to find peace and relaxation, too.
“I think that’s where Jason’s love lies and that’s where his future should be,” Duder said.
“These animals, every morning when he gets up, this gives him purpose. It makes his life full.”
It’s why their longtime friend Tanya Shewchuk is doing what she can to help.
She said she’s known Oliver for eight years and seeing his struggle has been “really difficult.”
“Their sorrows are mine, their hardships are mine,” she said.
Oliver’s accident happened just one year after Shewchuk lost her daughter, Abbigail Cowbrough, in a military helicopter crash. She’s now fundraising through the Abbigail Cowbrough Foundation to help Oliver and Duder save their property from foreclosure.
“I really want to be able to help them keep their farm and make something of it and help other people in our community as well,” she said.
Duder said the money raised will go a long way.
“Mostly it’s to keep this farm running. It’s not really for us, but in the long run, it is because they are us.
“We want to share what we love. Jason’s been through a horrific accident and as a first responder, I think he deserves the help. He’s the first one to help someone else and for him to be able to keep loving his animals and keep them at home, I think that’s enough.”
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