WolfPack-strong Waterhouse dazzles in Den; McInnis remembered as mother hands out scholarship, delivers rousing speech

Everyone was watching him – 1,000 strong on Friday (Nov. 2) at the Tournament Capital Centre – and most of them knew his story.

“There were two or three times that the hospital told us it was time to say goodbye,” said Kelley Waterhouse, Owen’s mother. “We went in and his brother went in. And, like an hour later, he’s just doing awesome. He would just fight and fight and I thought he was gone. He would fight. He just fought. It was crazy.”

Owen Waterhouse and his WolfPack teammates Riley Brinnen of Kelowna and Owyn McInnis of Guelph, Ont., were involved in a multi-vehicle collision on Nov. 29, 2023, near the TRU campus.

McInnis died, Brinnen suffered spinal-cord damage and Owen Waterhouse sustained a brain injury.

The Waterhouses glow when talking about the ICU staff at Royal Inland Hospital, where Owen was placed in a medically induced coma for five weeks after the crash.

“We couldn’t move him anywhere because of his brain pressures,” said Rick Waterhouse, Owen’s father. “They put him on paralytics just to keep him still and had him hypothermic just to slow everything down.”

Added Kelley: “They took such good care of us and I don’t know if we would have made it if we didn’t have the support of the school (TRU), of our family, of our friends and of this entire community of Kamloops.”

River City residents reached out to give the Waterhouses places to stay near the hospital, gift cards and meals kept the displaced family fed and notes of condolence poured in — small tokens of warmth and empathy that took weight from unimaginable burden.

“They treated us like family,” Kelley said.

Brain-injury prognosis is not an exact science, but there is no question Owen’s recovery has been remarkable, considering medical professionals feared the worst last November.

Kelley provided photos and videos of her son at various stages of his push forward and they range from Owen appearing pale and weak, with several tubes protruding from his body, to nurses goggling while he rolls himself down a hallway in a wheelchair, to strides in a walker guided by hospital staff (with mom urging him onward), to piloting the walker solo, to swinging a golf club, to backyard sprinting and to jumping and spiking a volleyball.

“We went back to the Kelowna hospital last week and one of the doctors was there and he was just looking at Owen, shaking his head,” Kelley said. “He was just like, ‘Unbelievable. This is unbelievable what Owen’s doing.’ He’s only been awake for seven or eight months. What he’s doing his phenomenal.”

His push forward is not over.

“Oh gosh, no,” Rick Waterhouse said. “His goal is for next September to be registered back here at TRU. We’ve got a really good team working with him, working on his reading and writing and physically we have a great team and he keeps surprising them, so we just keep exceeding their goals quicker and quicker.”

Brinnen’s recovery shares similarities with his teammate’s, including that it began with absorbing sobering news.

“Initially, the doctors said my spinal cord was completely severed and I’d never walk again,” Brinnen said. “That was a bit of a tough one to accept. My family was pretty destroyed by that one.”

Visits from teammates, coaches, TRU administrators, friends and family were crucial during those early days and a stark change in outlook spurred spirits.

“I later found out my spinal cord is somewhat still intact,” Brinnen said. “About four months after the crash, my dad had been helping me stretch and I got some feeling in the bottom of my foot. I was like, weird. This is pretty foreign. When I was at GF Strong (Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver) about a month later, I was in bed one day and just started wiggling my toes a little bit. I shed a couple tears on that one. Did it ever feel amazing. I knew that from there I could progress further.”

And progress he did.

Brinnen offered videos and photos – from gloomy early days with a pooch by his hospital bed, to in a wheelchair alongside Canadian hero Rick Hansen, to rehab work with his legs in braces, to clanging and banging in the weight room, to leaving hospital with a walker and to walking with crutches. He was spotted maneuvering swiftly at WolfPack practise earlier this month with a device he calls “granny walker.”

The progress has been exceptional, but Brinnen offers candid remarks when speaking about adapting to his post-crash life.

“I’m still having trouble with it,” said Brinnen, who towers at six-foot-six. “It’s a bit of a tough reality, but being able to be around the guys every day and just living … it’s difficult but at the same time I have to be grateful l’m still able to be here.”

Brinnen said it was powerful to see Owyn McInnis’ mom, Erin Walter, and Owen Waterhouse on Friday, but painful to feel his departed teammate’s absence.

“I feel like it’s bringing that WolfPack family together again, kind of like those missing pieces,” Brinnen said. “If only Owyn could be here tonight.”

The sorrow in the sound of his voice and the look on his face when speaking of McInnis was palpable and he shared a tearful embrace with Walter before she spoke to CFJC Today.

ERIN WALTER INTERVIEW

“It’s incredible because sometimes there are just no words,” said Walter, a grief counsellor who works in palliative care. “You just look at them. To see grown men crying, to see everyone I had interactions with upon the news that Owyn had died. Everyone had a 22-year-old son, their empathy, their sympathy, their connectedness and willingness just to help … those are things you really take to heart.”

Walter said police have been transparent with her while the crash investigation continues and notes it is progressing.

“You have no idea what tomorrow brings,” Walter said. “It’s grasping that hug. It is taking that moment. It is taking the opportunity to come here. I wanted to make sure that people saw — my family, the friends that love him, the people in his life, his fiance, his sister – we are living our best lives. That we are also making sure justice is served, but that it’s not ruling our life because whatever is decided, Owyn is still not here. We still have to figure out life without him, but he left such a huge ripple on all of us.”

Walter made a rousing speech to the crowd after the match and handed the first-ever Owyn McInnis Memorial Men’s Volleyball Award to WolfPack outside hitter Sam Flowerday, who received a $3,000 scholarship.

In September, buoyed by his monster leaps forward in the recovery process, Owen Waterhouse had an idea.

“I get to do the home-opening serve, which I’ve been dreaming about for a while and just being back in Kamloops and staying the night has been one of my goals,” Waterhouse said while fans were streaming toward their seats ahead of the Canada West tilt featuring the WolfPack and UBC Okanagan Heat of Kelowna.

So, was he ready for the moment?

“Ah, you know, I think it’s going to be pretty good,” Rick Waterhouse said.

Added Brinnen: “I think he’s going to bomb that thing over, probably better than some of the guys on our team. I’m not gonna lie, I think he’s got it.”

Owen Waterhouse offered assurance: “I’ve practised it at the KSS practices all the time, so I’m more than ready for the first serve.”

With aplomb, he put to rest any doubt, playing to the roaring crowd before unleashing an overhand serve, a whistling ball buttressed by the will of fingers-crossed friends and loved ones, many of whom had frogs in throats and tears in eyes.

“It just makes my heart soar,” Kelley Waterhouse said.

He was mauled by teammates after the dart found its mark.

The scrum dissipated in time for him to turn to the bleachers and flex, as if to say: WolfPack strong.

“I just wanted to thank all the people here and the hospitals that cared after the car accident,” he said. “Everyone here – they all really cared about me.”

by Marty Hastings

WolfPack-strong Waterhouse dazzles in Den; McInnis remembered as mother hands out scholarship, delivers rousing speech

Our Community