Bucks4Buck-Carolyn J's Recovery

Some know her as Carolyn. Others know her as “Mom,” “aunt,” and “friend.” Her loving husband called her "Buck". We jokingly call her our own “Betty White” because she’s just as cute, just as funny and just as spunky. But to a big group of us, we call her “Grandma,” and last week this lady that means the world to so many was the passenger in a terrible car accident.

Living 2,000 miles away from her, the past week left her family in Wisconsin feeling helpless, especially as we learned the extent of Grandma’s injuries: 10 broken ribs, three fractured vertebrae (two of which required surgery), and a fractured foot. That’s a lot for even the toughest almost 84-year-olds to endure.

While we are incredibly grateful both she and our aunt (who was also in the accident and suffered a broken arm and ribs) are alive and with us today, Gram has a long, hard road to recovery ahead of her. The doctors said it will be roughly 12 weeks of recovery in a neck and body brace due to her borken neck, three fractured vertebrae, two have been fused and one cannot be fused because it is the C1 and in a precarious location. Then she will have the brace removed if everything has healed she will wear a neck brace and will have months of additional rehab to become self sufficient again. Friday, she was transferred to a rehab clinic where she will begin the first leg of the long journey ahead. She will be there for approximately two weeks before she returns home to continue with physical therapy appointments and her recovery. Right now Grandma is scared, she’s in tremendous pain, and she’s feeling completely overwhelmed and worried by what’s ahead. This is a grandma who used to take care of her own home, drive to her appointments and stores, maintain her yard, do gardening and walk her dog. She wants to so badly get back to what she could do. The family is rallying around her to ensure she has the emotional and physical support she needs, but we wanted to do something more from afar to help ease some of her worries over the financial burden this accident has thrown in her lap. Because we want her to put all her focus into recovering and healing, we decided to create this Go Fund Me page to help her in whatever ways we can. 

She would never tell you or complain, but she is on a very fixed budget. She is going to have a $6700.00 deductible under her insurance, plus co-pays, as well as everything that insurance does not pay, which at this point is looking like a significant amount! With such an extensive recovery period there are many expenses involved, for which the total cost is unknown. Some of the things we know Grandma will need help with include:

-Medical bills
-Medication expenses
-Physical therapy costs
-Transportation costs
-Grocery delivery service (as she won’t be able to do her weekly grocery shopping)
-Home and bathroom safety aids and assistive devices (i.e. shower attachments, shower chair, etc.)
-Home repairs—prior to the accident Grandma was in the middle of some major home repairs. We would like to have those finished by the time she comes home so she can recover in a home that isn’t in a state of home repair chaos
-Home cleaning services
-Dog walker (She has a Keeshond left behind by our grandfather who passed away in 2013. Judge is her world and we want her to rest assured he is being well cared for during this stressful time.)
-Yard care

Grandma is one tough cookie, the sweetest person you will ever meet, and, if we don’t say so ourselves, the very definition of what a Grandma should be. (We’re pretty sure it’s her photo next to the entry “Grandma” in the dictionary.) Any contributions to help ease her worries and allow her to focus completely on getting better are appreciated more than we can express. And, of course, we welcome your continued prayers and positive thoughts. Thank you for helping us get Grandma back up and running!