Dear Friends of Lynda McHardy,

On Monday, November 3rd after caring for one of her cherished " seniors ", Lynda decided to have a nice walk home in the sunshine and " get some fresh air".

Unfortunately, she didn't make it home safely .

Lynda had a very bad fall, thanks to a bit of broken sidewalk. After what seemed like an eternity waiting for paramedics while she was lying on the sidewalk in great pain, the ambulance showed up. The paramedics carefully triaged her and then she was off to St. Mike's.

Then there was a very long wait in emergency while examinations and x-rays were taken followed by another long wait for a bed. Very early Tuesday morning Lynda was taken into surgery. The nurse told us to go home and wait because " it was going to be a while".

We received a call at about noon from the surgeon to tell us that Lynda was " okay ". She had one broken bone in her right forearm that they were able to repair but the other major bone had to be "replaced". Her cast reaches from above the elbow to her hand. She also suffered injuries to her face , severe bruising from brow to chin, and a gash in her lip needing 3 stitches , and a broken nose. There will need to be some major dental work to restore the front teeth.

As you can imagine Lynda is not in good shape but she is not having a " pity party ". In and out of her grogginess, she is worried about her cat, and concerned for her seniors and " what comes next" .

There will be an unknown period of time when she will lose the much needed, very modest income she earns as a " Senior for Seniors ".

Dental and rehab services not fully covered by OHIP are expected to be considerable. We have identified the limited resources available to her during the period of recovery and are pursuing them.

This is playing on her mind. This is not where she needs to be as she recovers from this most awful fall.

Many strangers stopped to do what they could for Lynda as she lay on the sidewalk. One young man, Bradley, quickly called 911, then got our phone number from Lynda. She was quite close by , so we were there in minutes. A delivery driver presented dressings for her lip, a physio made sure she wasn't moved, several draped their coats over her as she shivered on the cold concrete. A core group of about 5 people stood by until she was in the ambulance. Witnessing that level of care for a total stranger, our loved one, was deeply moving.

This little campaign gives us all an opportunity to, in a practical way, help care for Lynda in the wake of her accident.

May we ask you, if you can, to help Lynda get through this bad spell with a donation ? Any amount

you can contribute to help Lynda is appreciated.

We've met many of her friends who we know will be there for Lynda. To those friends of Lynda's we haven't met, we hope you'll be there for her too.

On behalf of Lynda thank you for your friendship and support.

Gratefully,

Leonard McHardy ( brother ) & John Harvey ( brother-in-law)