Rankin Inlet mayor on the mend

Rankin Inlet Mayor Harry Towtongie is on the road to recovery after recently facing nine hours of surgery on his neck and vertebrae.

Towtongie said he's slowly on the mend and walking a little bit farther every couple of days.

He said he's also able to do a little more exercising in his home on his elliptical machine.

“I'm trying to build myself up from my lack of energy and get in a little bit better shape, so I can keep running this community somehow,” said Towtongie. “I had two vertebrae, I believe they're called, in the back of my neck that were problematic and one of my joints back there was squishing my spinal cord.

“I had a really hard time walking. I'd get all tensed up and then after a few steps, I'd be OK. But, other times, when I'd have a cup of coffee, I'd be spilling it everywhere trying to walk from the kitchen to the living room. That's fixed now.

“I had a nine-hour operation on my neck. I guess something went wrong. Something got infected and they had to redo it or clean it. I don't know exactly what they did. It was supposed to be a four-hour operation but it took them nine hours. It was kind of a big deal.”

Towtongie said the operating room staff in Winnipeg cut about a one-foot line down his back from the back of his head. They opened him up and replaced two damaged joints. They fused them together with titanium and then bolted them together.

He said he regrets not asking enough questions about the procedure. It's kind of a hit-and-miss thing when it comes to whether he's going to be OK or not, he said, but he thinks he's feeling better.

“I have less numbness in my hands and my two knees that used to be really bad all the time are not as sore anymore. I'm not crying every time I take a step anymore. So, I'm feeling much better that way. I'm very thankful to Danny Kowmuk and hamlet council for taking care of things for me for more than a month now.

“I thank my council for putting up with me being like this, but I can't help it. It is what it is for now. The next step is to get better and get back to work.”

Towtongie thinks his injury may have happened a long time ago when Rankin Inlet used to send players to Churchill for hockey tournaments.

He said he was tripped just before he hit the boards, which is always a dangerous situation. He thought his neck was broken at the time and thinks it may have gradually deteriorated over the decades that followed.

“We were actually out fishing awhile back and I had six Ski-Doos behind me following me home from our fishing trip. It was getting late and I didn't want to keep stopping just so my neck could get comfortable and my hands could stop being numb all the time.

“I was in a lot of pain but I stubbornly kept going, and going, and going until we made it back. Looking back now, that may have had a little bit to do with it too.

“Everything is OK in the hamlet and this community is really booming. Things are going to have to start opening soon and I'd like to be part of that. I'm just hanging in there for now. I don't really have a job. I have a company, but that only pays me minimally and I have bills to pay just like everybody else.

“I'm getting better. I'm OK and I'm happy to be back in the community helping out as much as I can.”