Stephanie Durel Medical Fund

Please watch for updates 


My friend Stephanie Durel is only 53 years old. On January 3rd, 2014 Stephanie was in a near-fatal car accident when she hit black ice on I90. Her Toyota Corolla was spinning out of control so fast that it ripped through the guard rail and luckily a piece of her car was caught on some metal from the rail and her car was hanging over Higgins Ave with bystanders holding on to her car to try and keep it from falling onto the street and into traffic about 40 feet below until help arrived.

God protecting her, Stephanie ended up with bumps and bruises and a broken tibia. Unfortunately, due to an error on the hospital's part, Stephanie suffered a deep infection causing her to lose a huge part of her leg muscle, nerves, and flesh requiring many surgeries, skin grafts, wound vacuums, and wound care. This kept her in the hospital for over 4 months until she was ready to have her broken leg taken care of in a rehabilitation center/nursing home. She had an exterior fixture style metal unit on her leg (see photo). Unfortunately again there was an error, this time in the nursing home. They did not do the required physical therapy and they failed to put a  brace on her ankle to hold her foot in the proper position which has caused her left foot to have foot drop (the foot has dropped to the inside, so it is leaning all the way to the right which places her ankle where the heel of her foot should be) leaving her completely immobile. She has lived in a bed since. They have failed to do anything consistently for her foot to heal which has now caused the problem to basically be permanent. Her choices are living as is in the nursing home (THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE), amputate the leg, or see a physician who may possibly be able to fix her leg and foot. He has a 60% rate of correcting limbs that previous physicians told the patient that amputation is the only fix. That is a huge percentage! Sadly he wasn't with her insurance company and after a bunch of red tape, he couldn't see her. There is a way for her to see him now and we are hoping she can add to his percentage of saving limbs! If not at least she can have it amputated, be fit for a prosthetic, and learn to walk again. This will finally get her out of this place and into a normal life before she wastes any more of her precious life in here.

As I mentioned above, Stephanie has been unable to walk and has been bedridden for over 5 years in the nursing home in Long Grove, IL just existing with NO PROGRESSION. In fact, she has had many other illnesses and situations come up from her living conditions. I am trying to raise funds for her everyday living expenses that are not covered by the nursing home, for all insurance denials, and for her patient portion. 

At least we now have a light at the end of the tunnel. This physician will be able to push her life forward one way or another so she can get out of this bed she is rotting in and move on with her life. He will either be able to fix the foot damage or the less desirable outcome of amputating her leg. Either way, at least she will be able to learn how to walk again, get herself out of this nursing home, and start living her life once again!

Please help Stephanie in any way if you can.  This includes sharing this gofundme page,  praying for her, and/or donating. No amount is too small. All of these things help! Thank you from the bottom of her heart, her Mother's heart, her Sister's heart, and my heart.

Thank You for reading and for your generosity.
God Bless You,
Carol Cohen

Please see any updates as this is a revised gofundme page due to the company updating their computer. This is also the reason that the previous donations are no longer listed which shows the balance as 0$ as if there have not been any donations made yet. There have been donations prior to this but again, due to the change on gofundme's end, they have been deleted with the creation of this new page. Thank you!