Hamilton

Man loses 3 prosthetic legs in raging Grimsby fire

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Brad Eggink says his three prosthetic legs, worth $65K, were torched in a huge fire

Brad Eggink is seen here with his dog, Lana. Eggink lost three prosthetic legs in a fire in downtown Grimsby last month. (Brad Eggink)

A Grimsby man is trying to rebuild his life after a massive fire totally destroyed his apartment, incinerating everything he owned — including three prosthetic legs worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Brad Eggink first realized his life was about to be thrown into disarray on July 6, when he walked out of an all day work meeting to dozens of missed calls.

The last one was from his mom. He called her back, and she broke the news.

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​Downtown Grimsby was burning. A fire was ripping through buildings and causing major damage — and his apartment was going up in flames.

His first thought was about his two dogs, Gracie and Lana. Luckily, they got out okay.

"I lost everything. Literally everything. All I had was the pants I was wearing and the shirt on my back," Eggink said.

He had his pants, but he lost his legs.

'It's a bitch. It really interrupts your life.'

- Brad Eggink

Eggink lost a leg in a car accident 16 years ago. In the years since, he had acquired four prosthetic legs, which were all useful in different situations.

Downtown Grimsby was shut down last month after a fire destroyed a building and damaged several others. (Anne Marie Robichaud)

One was his "everyday leg," which he was using that day. But three other prosthetics were lost in the fire: a spare leg, a "water leg" that's made of fiberglass and used to walk in and out of water, and an "athletic leg," which as a curved portion on the bottom and a shock absorbent air pump.

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The total dollar figure on the lost limbs? Around $65,000, Eggink says.

"It's a bitch," he said. "It really interrupts your life."

Eggink was born and raised on a dairy farm in Niagara, and currently works in the dairy industry. As a "rural kid," he's passionate about being outside, and does lots of hiking and biking.

All that is much harder now without his athletic prosthetic leg, he says.

Eggink says when he first found out about the fire, he was most worried about his dogs, Gracie and Lana. (Brad Eggink)

"There are definitely people who are worse off than me, no doubt. But at the end of the day, it just affects quality of life," he said.

Eggink is currently living with a friend in Caledonia, but is moving to Dundas this weekend.

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He says he believed his insurance covered his prosthetics as part of the contents of his home, but he was later told that wasn't the case — and so he's on the hook for replacing them.

A friend of his, Angela Leslie, has launched a GoFundMe campaign in the hopes of raising funds for Eggink to replace his missing prosthesis. He says he originally resisted the idea and planned to pay for everything himself, but relented when Leslie kept saying that people wanted to help.

"I'm humbled by all the support," he said.

As of Thursday morning, the crowdfunding drive had raised just over $1,500 of a $2,500 goal.

adam.carter@cbc.ca