Support Andrea's Road to Recovery

Hello Friends, as some of you might be aware, last month Andrea was involved in a freak accident while at work, wherein she seriously injured her leg, and was admitted to the ICU at Mass General Hospital for surgery and the follow-up rehab. While changing a keg in the cold room, and 170 lbs. keg fell down on her left leg and crushed her femur and tibia; resulting in severely fractured tibia, dislocated knee, seriously damaged Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL), Medial Cruciate Ligament (MCL), and damage to many more muscles and nerves on her leg.

I have personally worked with Orthopedic surgeons for more than five years in knee arthroplasty (from ‘05-’10); and can tell you that this is one of the worst trauma cases that I have ever seen. Luckily, Andrea, being the half-glass-full person she is, has taken this freak accident in her stride, and has been doing a phenomenal job in going through major surgeries at MGH and the follow-up physiotherapy sessions over the last one month on her road to recovery. Her Orthopedic surgeon has mentioned that it could take 4-6 months for her to take a single unassisted step on her own. However, Andrea is determined, and is doing a phenomenal job working harder on her recovery, getting better faster, and finding her footing (no pun intended!).

Unfortunately, this painful accident also comes with a financial burden, hence we are starting this fundraising campaign to provide a platform by which any of us can support her. Certain aspects of her work related accident injury is covered by worker’s comp insurance policy. However, there are pros and cons in that. Following is the succinct overview:

Pros : Insurance covers the accident cost and pays her a portion of her salary until she is able to get back to work.

Cons: Because of the serious injury and associated long surgical recovery times, Andrea would not be able to work for several months. During these months, the Insurance will pay for only a portion of her normal salary; while her monthly expenses still remain same. In a world where most folks in our community live from paycheck to paycheck, I think a few of you can relate to that financial pinch point wherein expenses stays same, while the earnings decrease significantly.

Let’s do our bit to support Andrea in her recovery!