Support is growing for the two children of a young Red Deer couple who were killed in a motorcycle collision earlier this month.
Brent and Nicole Keryluke, aged 35 and 34, were killed on May 5 after the motorcycle they were driving collided with a truck.
They left behind two children: three-year-old Liam and six-year-old Arielle. Brent’s parents, grandparents Ben and Marilyn Keryluke, are now the childrens’ primary caretakers.
Both kids have severe hearing impairments which means costly hearing aids and many trips to Calgary for checkups. According to their grandfather, the hearing aids have drastically improved their lives.
“They weren’t picking up the speech and we found out they’re luckily able to have hearing aids… so with the hearing aids, Arielle’s speech came around really quickly,” Ben said.
Both grandparents said they’re overwhelmed by the immense amount of support they’ve received from family and friends.
“We’d like to say we’re sharing,” Marilyn said. “Arielle’s learning she doesn’t have one family, she has eight families.”
A GoFundMe page to help raise money for the two kids’ future had amassed to more than $70,000 by 7 p.m. on Friday.
“It’s a long road for the kids… the GoFundMe page has raised more money than we ever could on our own,” Ben said, adding the money will go directly into a trust fund for the children.
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“It takes a lot of money to raise two kids, especially two kids with hearing problems,” he said.
Ben and Marilyn said they’re grateful for the outpouring of support and love the community has shown.
“We really appreciate it… people are still donating and there are a lot of people who are still fundraising,” he said.
On May 2, RCMP said a truck was travelling eastbound on Highway 590 and was attempting to turn northbound onto the range road when it hit the motorcycle.
The family was devastated to hear of the fatal collision.
“The guy turned left in front of him and it was a head-on collision. They had no chance,” Ben said.
“It’s always hard to hear that news, especially when it’s both of them. You think one would make it, but both, that’s pretty difficult.”
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