Elzey Burkham

For the past 41 years,Elzey and Elaine Burkham ran Burkham Construction, a contracting firm building residential new construction and doing renovation work in Campton, New Hampshire, on the southern edge of the White Mountains. They dreamed of retiring to a cabin they would construct near their beloved mountains. In anticipation of that day, they built a cabin in Littleton, New Hampshire on the northern edge of the White Mountains which they called their “Little slice of heaven on earth.” They planned to live there with their German short haired pointer named Tikka. In February, 2016 Elzey slipped on the ice and broke his hip. For 4 months Elzey struggled with pain and doctors told him he needed a new hip. He had hip replacement surgery on June 20, 2016, but on July 6 doctors discovered an infection and put him on antibiotics. A week later the redness was gone but Elzey was running a temperature. He was advised to go to the ER, and when he did he told the doctor that his legs were going numb. He was admitted to the hospital, and was transferred the next day to a Regional Medical Center.

Extensive tests were run both at the Regional Medical Center as well as at a rehab facility in Massachusetts, but they were not conclusive. Doctors simply could not explain what had happened, and the Burkham’s were left to figure out how to live with paralysis. That also meant Elzey had to close his business before he intended. They were immediately faced with needs that were not covered by insurance and which they had not anticipated, such as outfitting their Chevy suburban with driving controls, having a ramp installed on their cabin, widening doors and remodeling the bathroom, and installing a ceiling based Hoyer lift to help Elzie navigate from his bed to his wheelchair. The lift was important because Elaine had mastectomies due to breast cancer in November, 2015, so she had to be cautious about lifting weight. With his income reduced to Social Security disability

The Burkham’s have retained an attorney who will let them know if they have a case or not, even though they realize it is very unlikely any doctor will testify that it was the surgery which cause the paralysis. Meanwhile, Elzey continues to rehab in order to regain as much strength and function as possible. After the lift was installed, Elaine wrote and said “You have no idea how this lift has changed our lives. It has made a very difficult situation easier to handle.” Actually Elaine, we do, and that is why the foundation exists!