A teenage drummer from Metro Vancouver who lost part of his arm just a few months ago is back on the stage – and he hasn’t missed a beat.
Seventeen-year-old Jack Thomas was working his summer job on Sept. 4 when a conveyor belt “tripped out”, grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him into the machine.
He blacked out, and upon waking ran to get help – not knowing that part of his right arm had been severed in the accident.
“I had a lot of nerve damage and I could still feel my whole arm,” the Port Coquitlam student told CTV News. “When the paramedics told me my arm was only severed from the elbow down instead of the shoulder down I was given hope.”
The accident happened the week before Thomas was set to enter grade 12 at Terry Fox Secondary. Far from dwelling on it, the avid musician says he accepted his new reality “right off the bat.”
“I told myself ‘I’m alive, I’m going to get through this and get back to school’,” Thomas said. “All I could think about was how I was going to adapt, how I was going to figure out how to get my life back on track."
Getting back on track meant getting back behind the drums – and the one-armed Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen provided the teen with plenty of inspiration. Eight days after the accident, Thomas was once again behind a drum kit.
“Music is my life. It’s what I’ve been doing my entire life and what I hope to be doing for the rest of my life,” he says, smiling. “It’s a huge part of what has kept me going through this, and helped me heal so fast.”
Steve Sainas, contemporary music teacher at Terry Fox Secondary, calls Thomas’ recovery one of the “most inspiring events” of his life. He remembers receiving a call from his student immediately after the teen woke up from surgery.
“He said, ‘I’m going to be back on the stage at the end of the year, I’m going to back in your class as soon as possible and I’m going to be drumming just as I used to,’” recalls Sainas. “I thought it was the morphine – but nope! He’s such an amazing kid.”
Sainas consulted Rick Allen’s drum tech about the best set up for a one-armed drummer, and says he can hardly tell the difference between his pupil’s performance now compared to before the accident.
"You'd think he was an able-bodied drummer – he's compensating so fluidly,” Sainas adds. “He hasn’t missed a beat.”
And Thomas has been well supported along the way. Roland’s Drums is donating a special kit for the young musician, who is also waiting for a prosthetic arm.
Friends fundraised more $15,000 for their “inspiring” pal – and hope to raise even more at a concert Dec. 2 to help with medical expenses.
The show will be held at the Terry Fox Theatre in Port Coquitlam, and Canadian band Hey Ocean will be headlining. Tickets for the event can be purchased online.
“It would be great to sell this theatre out and make it a celebration for Jack…he just wants this to be a big celebration about life,” says Sainas. “Because life goes on – that’s his whole perspective. Life goes on, and we should celebrate every day.”
The young drummer agrees.
“Nothing can stop you when you have passion and love for music,” Thomas says. “You can do anything you want as long as you have the right mindset.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Julie Nolin
