KAWARTHA LAKES-She broke her neck and suffered a traumatic brain injury but that didn’t stop Denise Hepburn from winning three medals at the 2017 Invictus Games. Hepburn will be sharing her story of tragedy and triumph at the United Way City of Kawartha Lakes Campaign Touchdown Event in Lindsay on March 22nd. “The United Way deals with a lot of people in the community that would be considered vulnerable whether that’s because of age mental health or poverty and I think that being part of the Invictus Games was also geared toward people who are vulnerable who want to find their new normal to get back on track. Hepburn told Kawartha 411. “It just seemed like a really good fit that I could speak to my experiences and maybe just bring awareness to people in the community that are feeling that way or people that will impact those people and put a face to it.”
Hepburn came back from a C2 spinal injury that only 5% of people survive.”There was a lot of loss there, my career was completely over at that time, I almost lost my life and my mobility.” Hepburn recalls. “It also allowed me time to let everything else flood in because I was a mother of four at the time, when I was injured I had a lot of time on my hands to recover and thats when the mental health side of it really started to creep in.”
She says she became depressed and was ashamed by her feelings. “Looks can be really deceiving and I think a lot more people need to normalize mental health.” she says. “I spent a lot of time trying to hide how i was feeling because I was embarrassed an ashamed , it was shameful and that show I felt. “I would like to be that face that can bring to light that your not your injuries, your not defined by that, whether they are invisible or visible you can overcome it.”
Hepburn worked as a Medic in the military for 13 years before her injury, including a 7 month tour in Afghanistan. Her talk will include her experiences in insights from her time in the military through to the games where she won four bronze medals in swimming. “We began our campaign with a dedicated team that brought Col. Chris Hadfield to our community. We are so honoured to have Denise Hepburn, another Canadian hero, join us to share some of her journey. This year we chose a different leadership style for our campaign where we have been celebrating and featuring community champions from across the City,” says Duncan Gallacher, United Way CKL Board President.
This years United Way campaign celebrates 50 years and focuses on 50 Community Champions. Statistics show 90% of Canadians will access a United Way funded program in their lifetime. After government, United Ways are the second largest funder of social services in Ontario. Approximately $6.9 million has been invested in agency programs since 1986 in the City of Kawartha Lakes and United way has has invested over $975,000 in community projects since 2005. Community Investment includes: $63,000 in bursaries to local high school graduates, Age Friendly Steering Committee, Community Gardens, and training in Outcomes Measurement.
As a result of United Way almost 14,000 children and youth learned to read, use computers, grow food, play sports, cook, sing, dance, count, colour inside the lines, colour outside the lines, dream, believe in themselves, increase their confidence and stay in school. They helped 2,258 people deal with some of their immediate challenges resulting from living in poverty. This number included 400 people who accessed United Way’s community gardens. Currently 100 gardens have been built through the Neighbourhod Bounty program and almost 22,000 people were served in the programs to address disabilities, seniors and independence, mental health and well-being, volunteer engagement and mobilization, neighbourhood development and food security.
The United Way Touchdown Event supports these important initiatives. It will be held on March 22nd at Celebrations in Lindsay. There will be dinner a silent auction and Hepburns inspiring speech. Tickets are available at the United Way office at 50 Mary St w in Lindsay or by calling 705-878-5081
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