Christa Haywood-Farmer

Corporation and at Thompson Rivers University.

She also provides suicide awareness training through a collaboration with the Kamloops Blazers and has given many presentations on mental health at Kamloops high schools.

Award nominator Karina Laitres had this to say about Haywood-Farmer:

“Christa Haywood-Farmer is a true leader. Approaching every day with positivity and energy, she ensures everyone around her is encouraged and appreciated at all times. As the manager of community and vocational integration at the Canadian Mental Health Association, Haywood-Farmer always puts 110 per cent of herself into advocating for the absolute best for community members, vulnerable populations, youth and each and every employee and volunteer at the CMHA. She offers unconditional support to all of those within the CMHA. She embodies the definition of a true and inspirational leader.”

On June 19, 2016, a then-18-year-old Jessie was beaten nearly to death by Kristopher Teichrieb, a Brocklehurst resident, after Jessie got lost after attending a grad party and wandered onto Teichrieb’s property.

As a result of this attack, Jessie was in a coma for 10 months. He suffered a catastrophic brain injury and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

When he was told he and mom Sue were the recipients of this year’s Courage Award, Jessie, now 25, was excited.

“Oh, that’s so phenomenal,” he said from his home in Savona. “I am smiling. This is happiness.”

It was the first weekend of June and Jessie had just arrived home by taxicab, due to the fact Sue’s specially equipped van has broken down. The cost to get Jessie from The Hamlets care home in Westsyde to the family home in Savona, about an hour away, on weekends is $150 each way.

Sue said an accessible van is about more than transportation.

“The van is a way for me to sleep,” she said. “When Jessie’s in the hospital, it’s like home. I go down there and I rest and I sleep when he’s having surgeries. He’s having another dental surgery coming up. We’re at 14 surgeries. I think this will be 15. In the beginning. It was just, like, surgery after surgery or infection and pneumonia and back on life support. And Jessie is a fighter. I don’t know how he’s here right now.”

In 2018, Teichrieb was sentenced to seven years on his conviction of aggravated assault. In 2021, he left prison for a halfway house on statutory release.

To date, an ongoing online fundraiser at gofundme.com (search “quality of life after tragedy”) has helped raise money for the family, but the need is ongoing as costs are constant. Money raised has gone to purchasing the nowout-of-commission van and retrofitting the Savona home for Jessie’s weekend returns.

While a recent court decision awarded Teichrieb’s home to Sue, the house is heavily mortgaged and in need of serious renovations, so the net benefit will not be enough to make a significant dent in their financial needs. Although a court in 2021 ordered Teichrieb to pay the Simpsons $7 million, the family has yet to receive a penny.

Sue said she is working on a book about her experience and is trying to figure out a way to publish it. She has also re-entered the workforce, securing a part-time job at a diner in Cache Creek to help pay the bills.

An auction to raise money to help transport Jessie from The Hamlets to his Savona home over the summer will be held on July 14 and Sue is still looking for donations to help the cause, such as hotel stays, restaurant gift cards and gift baskets.

“Any help is greatly appreciated and to those who have donated, thank you so much,” Sue said. “This auction will help with costs to bring Jessie home.”

In addition to the auction, those wishing to help the Simpsons can drop off bottles at the Southgate Camosun Crescent and North Kamloops Fortune Drive locations of Generals Grants, under the Jessie Simpson account. For detailed information on the auction, call 778-257-5715. Donations can be also be made by mail to Jessie Simpson, PO Box 233, Savona, B.C., V0K 2J0.