Chloe Webb Medical Support

On Thursday, May 28th, on I-80, 19 year old Chloe Webb and two of her sisters were involved in a very serious car accident involving a tractor trailer. Being the closest to the point of impact, Chloe suffered the most severe injuries of the three, and was life flighted to UPMC Altoona to assess her injuries. At that time, it was determined that Chloe had a broken femur, two collapsed lungs, multiple broken ribs, fractured vertebrae, a lacerated spleen, a large gluteal hematoma and a possible traumatic brain injury (TBI).  Early Friday morning her lungs failed, and she was life flighted again - this time to UPMC Presbyterian, in Pittsburgh, so she could be hooked up to an ECMO machine (a bypass, which pumped and oxygenated her blood outside her body), allowing her lungs to rest and heal.

After 4 days, Chloe no longer required ECMO, and is now on a ventilator only, intended to help transition her lungs back in to doing the work. Taking her off ECMO came with complications; she has developed a blood clot in her leg, and is currently battling low grade pneumonia and a fever.  Because of the intubation, Chloe has not been able to speak or eat, so she’s been communicating by spelling and gesturing and they’ve been providing nutrition through a tube from her nose to her stomach. Once she is breathing totally on her own, there will be further assessment to look at swallowing function and overall communication abilities.

Chloe has already had two surgeries (one exploratory and one to remove her spleen) and will need a third surgery, to repair her femur. The rib and vertebrae fractures will not require surgery, but will take time to heal.

Throughout this last week, Chloe has shown tremendous strength, and has surprised many people, including the medical staff, with her progress so far - she is proving every second how resilient and tenacious she is. However, she still has a very long journey to recovery ahead of her.  Chloe has always had a passion for helping others. She is a rising Junior at Penn State, majoring in Speech Language Pathology. She plans to one day work with people who have had strokes or traumatic brain injuries, to help them regain their ability to communicate, think and swallow. She loves to work out and spend time with her dogs Effie and Ella. 

This tragedy has been made even more difficult for her parents Kelly and Dave, as in the midst of COVID, only one parent is permitted in the hospital with Chloe for the remainder of her stay. The road ahead is full of obstacles, and we’d like them to be able to focus all of their energy on Chloe and her healing and recovery. This fundraiser is designed to help relieve the cost of recent, current and future medical procedures, treatments, and rehab expenses.  We are aiming for an initial goal of $50,000, but will adjust our goals based on Chloe’s ongoing need. We appreciate any help that you are willing and able to give, especially during these uncertain times.