Tonie’s Journey to Recovery

My name is Ashley Burcham. My sister, Tonie West, was injured in the early morning hours of 4/3/25 in the tornadoes that hit McNairy County.

She was out during the storm last night in Bethel Springs. She was a passenger in a car that got blown into a tree. She was extracted from the car when Madison County EMS found her.

She has broken C1/C2 vertebrae, a broken nose, a broken femur, and an 8-inch laceration spanning from her forehead to the back of her neck that is open to the skull. She is in a C-collar. She got conscious sedation so they could splint the femur. It is broken right above the knee, and her femur was compacted into her knee joint. They stapled her laceration for now. She needs neurosurgeon, plastics, and ortho.

Because of this, she was transferred from Jackson Madison County General Hospital to Regional One The Med in Memphis.

She has no health insurance. She will be facing a long recovery with no income. She has two little girls who need their mommy. I am hoping this fund can help provide her and her girls a little peace during this difficult time so she can focus on healing.

***UPDATE #1: Neurosurgeon came by. Getting an MRI now. MRI findings will determine if her cervical fractures need to be repaired surgically.***

***UPDATE #2: Trauma surgeon just rounded. They found an occlusion of the vertebral artery on the left side. Grade 4. May be treating it by starting her on a Heparin drip. She may need Aspirin outpatient for a few months. Sometimes it requires surgical repair. They will know more when neurosurgery rounds. These apparently often accompany traumatic cervical fractures.

She has broken her ribs on her right side. I don’t know how many.

She has three broken bones in the nose. ENT will fix it with surgery.

Ortho surgery came by. Her femur will require plates, screws, rods, and knee replacement.

***UPDATE #3: Ortho rounded again. Surgery on the leg tomorrow morning. Still waiting on neuro rounds.***

***UPDATE #4: They just took Tonie down for surgery for her femur repair @ 6:00am.