A Dunrobin boy is growing stronger every day after his foot was run over by a lawnmower at the family’s home last spring. Now, his family is thanking first responders and neighbours for their quick work. At the City of Ottawa Fire Station 66 in Dunrobin, when asked if he wants to climb inside a fire truck, three-year-old Levi Woods doesn’t hesitate to answer, “yes.” The dance of excitement is something his mother Jessica Woods wasn’t sure she’d ever see after the terrible accident in May. “I thought he was dead,” she said. Levi was riding a lawnmower with his father and brother when he climbed down and seriously injured his foot. “It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” Levi’s father Jordan Woods says. “It’s something that I have to carry with me for the rest of my life.” “It was horrible,” Jessica explains. “It was running in the house to call 911, and it was our daughter calling 911.” Levi’s father raced him across the street, to a neighbour’s home. The neighbour, Alex Carlson, is an Ottawa firefighter who had just arrived home from his shift. “My first instinct was to go to him,” Jordan explains. Carlson has been a firefighter in Dunrobin for more than 10 years and says he relied on his training to do what he could. “I was just focused on trying to control bleeding,” Carlson says. “I ran inside, got dishcloths, and applied that to the to the wound, and just applied a lot of pressure.” A fellow former firefighter who lives nearby also helped, Carlson says, and they used a belt as a tourniquet. The family says doctors credit their actions for helping save Levi’s foot until paramedics could arrive. Levi has now gone through five surgeries at CHEO and has weekly physiotherapy appointment. But new smiles are on his face as he holds a coin given to him last month by firefighters. On Oct. 14, members of Station 66 arrived at the Woods home to give Levi and his four siblings a chance to climb in the fire truck. Levi received a “Challenge Coin” and his brothers received courage medals. The family also survived the 2018 tornado that rushed through Dunrobin and say first responders have been an important part of the west end community. Jordan thanks first responders, doctors and the community who have supported Levi’s recovery. “(And) make them feel like they are comfortable again and that they’re brave and they can do anything,” he says.
