An Abbotsford mom whose 11-year-old son died in a 2014 longboarding accident will be spreading the message about helmet safety on Canada Day.
Joanne Mackenzie said she and her fiance will hand out stickers to people attending Abbotsford’s Canada Day parade and the family festival that follows at Exhibition Park, as well as at the fireworks display at the end of the evening.
The stickers read, “In Loving Memory of Dustin: Wear Your Helmet.”
Dustin was boarding downhill along Bevan Avenue, not far from his home, at about 10 p.m. on May 31, 2014 when he took a spill near Cascade Street. He was not wearing a helmet at the time.
Dustin smashed his head on the pavement and was taken to BC Children’s Hospital with a critical head injury. The Dormick Park Elementary student died two days later.
Mackenzie had always been adamant that her son wear his helmet when he went longboarding, but on that night, he chose not to do so, without her knowledge.
She is now an advocate for helmet use, saying she doesn’t want anyone else to go through the trauma she faced in losing her son.
