Riley Brinnen (Photo via Courtney Hannigan/GoFundMe)
A GoFundMe for injured TRU Wolfpack men’s volleyball player Riley Brinnen has already raised over $60,000 as of Monday morning.
It was created over the weekend for the player who was caught up in last week’s multi-vehicle collision near Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, which killed a teammate – now identified as Owyn Macinnis from Guelph, Ontario.
The online fundraiser states Brinnen was air lifted to Vancouver General Hospital where he remains in hospital with a severe spinal cord injury.
“The extent of which is yet to be fully determined. He is currently in the Spinal ICU after undergoing surgery on Thursday morning. He is expected to be at VGH & GF Strong Rehabilitation centre for many months,” GoFundMe organizer Courtney Hannigan said.
Brinnen, a Kelowna native, is described as a “strong, athletic, sweetheart of a young man.”
“He played minor hockey in West Kelowna from Initiation to Midget, when in grade 10 he took on Volleyball. He graduated from KSS in 2020 and earned himself a spot on the Men’s Volleyball team at TRU,” Hannigan said. “Riley is in his fourth year of university working towards a Psychology degree.”
Hannigan is hoping to raise $75,000 to help cover some of the costs as Brinnen, his family, and his medical team “work towards building his new normal going forward.”
A link to donate can be found here.
Meanwhile, the South Kamloops Titans senior boys volleyball team honoured the three members of the TRU Wolfpack men’s volleyball team during the provincial championships.
They wore the numbers of the three TRU players in the warm-up, where they took home their first provincial title, as they pulled off a reverse sweep against Abbotsford Christian.
The 2-A title looked out of reach, with Abbotsford going up two sets to nothing, but the Titans rebounded, taking the next three sets 25-20, 25-18 and 15-10.
Brandon Johnson was named most outstanding libero, while Alex Howard was named most outstanding player.
Noah Henson, Huxley Wendland, and Gavin MacGregor were named tournament all-stars in Langley.
