Saville Family
Two Teenage Saville Brothers
The two teenage Saville brothers from Oakville have suffered not just one but two tragedies. First their father died in a tragic accident and then their home burnt down. They need our help.
Told by Forest Saville the eldest son who is only 19 years-old and now the head of his family, here is their story:
In late October 2018 my father left on a golfing trip to Florida, he was only supposed to be gone for a week or so but on the last day I get a long distance call from the states.
On the other end of the call was a hospital staff member informing me that something had happened to my dad and they needed my consent to preform an emergency operation.
My heart dropped.
I said they can do anything they need to to help him. As my father's eldest son I gained the responsibility of being his medical power of attorney, a title I never thought I'd hold.
The next call made was to my father's friends who went with him to get more information but all I got was that he chocked.
That night my brother and I packed our bags and took a flight out to Florida to meet up with the group taking care of my dad. It took us some time to make it to the hospital after settling in.
My brother, Trent and I had very little information to go on. We thought our dad was just held up in the hospital recovering from a common chocking Incident.
When we got to his room the mood shifted. Hopeful expectations crashed when I saw my dad laying in that bed covered in wires and tubes.
He was unresponsive.
He couldn't breath on his own.
The beeping and roaring of the machines keeping him alive filled the room and honestly I shut down.
Later the hospital staff told me what had happened . My father had chocked on some pizza. It's was too soft for him to cough up so it blocked off the air to his brain.
His friends tried everything to dislodge it. The Heimlich manoeuvre and everything they could do to try and get it out but he lost consciousness.
The fire department was there within eight minutes. They worked on him endlessly. It took them about 35 minutes to get him back, but by that time the damage had been done. My father was left in a comatose state and the hospital staff told me it was closer to brain death.
I was destroyed and couldn't sleep for days.
I had horrible migraines from being tired.
With all this crazy stress and hopeless thoughts going through my head I was in a weak place mentally despite being by my fathers side. I could talk to him, I could see him, I could feel him but there was nothing I could do.
After another week in Florida my dad met the safety standards needed to be air lifted back to Oakville where we lived. We planned it so that Trent and I would be in Canada the day before my father so we would see him at the new hospital.
On Friday, we fell asleep after a long flight in our three bedroom condo. Our mother had come to stay with us so we weren't alone.
The Fire
Just when we thought things couldn't get much worse I woken up in the middle of the night. My mother was screaming my name and I shot up out of bed. I opened the door not knowing what was going on.
As my door swung open, smoke pored into my room from the hallway. An electrical fire had started while we slept. I ducked down the hall to see where it was coming from but my whole living room was engulfed in flames. I screamed for my brother to wake up and leave with my mother.
Since this all took place at night I banged on the doors of the other residents to wake them up and get them out of the building. I was scared but I didn't want anyone getting hurt.
No one was harmed during the fire besides my family's cat.
But at 3 am we sat outside of our home in nothing but underwear. The cold air making us freeze as we watched this roaring fire burn everything to a crisp.
We lost everything our first night back.
From that day on I went to visit my dad every day waiting for any improvements, waiting for my father to come back to me. He had no will and all legal documents, personal belongings, personal information and other things we needed were gone in the fire.
Thankfully my brother Trent and I were receiving support and assistance from my father's friend Lewis, Kevin Schilz of Bridging the Gap Halton and Matt Foxall of Kerr Street Mission's Neighbour Care Network. While struggled to deal with the present and make plans for the future, my dad remained at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.
During March Break, with my father showing no signs of improvement and no change in his prognosis, I was asked to make a hard choice. Over time my father's feeding tube was removed.
My dad died April 13, 2019.
Trent and I have been staying at the Sandman Hotel for a year now, trying to take care of my fathers assets and putting together this puzzle of bills, personal belongings and memories.
The condo is now almost complete and Trent and I will finally be back home. Although our family is smaller I am doing everything I can to keep us going. At this time we are hoping to raise enough money to pay off my father's outstanding debts and mortgage payments so we have somewhere to live.
This is no easy feat. Both my brother and I work jobs to feed ourselves and the rest of the money goes toward basic living expenses. We hope to move back in and be able to pay for a home we desperately need.
The people who have helped us to this date continue to do so and it warms my heart to see a community move mountains just to help less fortunate individuals like us.
How to help these two teenage Saville brothers
The two teenage Saville brothers have the gofundme campaign - Saville Boy's(Forest & Trent)
The brothers' mother has not lived with them since they were very young. She is unable to provide the financial support they need.
