Cycling crash isn’t throwing Burlington man’s brother off fundraising mission

A Canadian man cycling around the world to help orphans in the Philippines is in hospital tonight after being hit by a truck.

His bike is mangled, his helmet broken, and Fred Bouwman now lies in a hospital bed in Oregon.

“The biggest concern right now is that when he stands he’s passing out, he’s had 15 broken ribs and two collapsed lungs so he’s had a hard time breathing.”

Fred Bouwman was 8 months into a 2 year, 50,000 kilometer journey on his bike when he was hit by a truck. Starting in Bangkok, Thailand on November 17th, Fred planned to cycle around the world.

His mission was to raise money for kids at the Angel House Orphanage in the Philippines after meeting the owner.

Fred’s brother Ed says: “He’s like, ‘oh that sounds like a good cause’, he’d liked the guy doing it and said I can direct any money raised directly toward the angel house.”

It opened in 2009 and currently is home to 11 kids, most of them abandoned by their parents. It relies solely on private donations.

Ed says his brother isn’t sure how much he raised so far because 100 per cent of the donations go directly to the home, and all expenses for the journey are covered by Bouwman himself.

“Most of the trip has been camping so the expenses aren’t very high so it’s self financed – he doesn’t use donations for any of that.”

But this may be the end of the line for Bouwman.

“He’s already thinking that he doesn’t know if he can get back on the bike knowing that this could happen again.”

But he’s not giving up. Ed says his brother is still looking for ways to help the kids at Angel House Orphanage.

Fred is expected to remain in hospital in Bend, Oregon for a couple more weeks and then will come back to Canada. Doctors expect it to take at least three months for him to recover.

The hospital bill is estimated to be about $150,000 to 200,000 so far. Bouwman did have health insurance but isn’t sure if it will cover the entire bill.