Henry Black was only 15-years-old when a bike accident last summer left the Toronto teen paralyzed from the chest down. After undergoing a nine-hour neurosurgery at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre he has been a client on the hospital’s complex continuing care (CCC) unit ever since. Dr. Priya Sayal, Henry’s complex care pediatrician, has overseen his lengthy rehabilitation journey that has included physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy and therapeutic recreation, among others. 

Henry eventually needs to go home – but it will be a long and expensive journey as his family makes arrangements to build a fully accessible laneway home for Henry to live as he gets older. Members of his extended family, including Henry’s cousin and Holland Bloorview Foundation Board member Justin Flowerday, are hosting a Ride for Henry biking fundraiser on June 22 to help raise funds to support Henry’s transition home. Twenty-five per cent of the funds raised will also be coming to Holland Bloorview to support some of the hospital’s highest priority needs. 

On June 13, Henry also underwent a novel nerve transfer surgery by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre surgeons and is the youngest spinal cord injury patient in Ontario to undergo the procedure. 

Henry’s story garnered coverage in the following media outlets: CBC News Toronto, the Globe and Mail and Global National.