Give Damandeep a second chance

Damandeep Kaur is an 18-year-old girl who was in a transition period in her life. She recently moved from Punjab India as an international student to a small town in Parry Sound, Ontario Canada in the hopes of a better future and a solid education. She came to Canada with a dream to one day become a nurse. Damandeep strong will, and determination pushed her to leave the comforts of her hometown, family, and friends to pursue her dreams even if it meant she would be in a completely different environment without any support or comfort from the people she has known her whole life.

Damandeep new beginning in Canada was starting of as a success as she arrived in early September and already obtained a part time job at Harveys in order to help fund her studies and to pay for her accommodation. Being a determined individual Damandeep was able to balance her work while excelling in her nursing program.

However, her dreams were put on hold and her aspirations were stopped only one month into her migration to Canada when she was involved in a devastating accident that changed her life completely. Before she had an opportunity to settle down and absorb Canadian culture, build new friendships or establish some kind of consistency in her new Canadian life she was struck by a car while crossing the road on October 17th, 2021.

On October 17th, 2021, Damandeep was crossing a road using the crosswalk on her way home from work when she was struck by a vehicle she didn’t even see coming. She was immediately taken to Parry Sound Hospital and then transferred to Sunnybrook trauma bay. Her face was no longer recognisable as it had swollen significantly, her teeth were crushed into the back of her mouth in addition to having multiple displaced bones throughout her face. Her whole body was severely damaged as her right leg was fractured and her left leg had a severe ligament tear.

Damandeep has been a fighter throughout the whole process and had to perform multiple surgeries and procedures in order for her to heal some of her traumatic injuries. This process has played a significant toll on her mental well-being and has left her and her family anxious, concerned and questioning her decision to come to Canada. Damandeep is still struggling with her mobility but even more damaging than the physical aspects of this accident are the mental strain and toll it has taken on her. An accident as severe as this has and will continue to leave Damandeep traumatized as she begins a new journey in her road to recovery.

Since Damandeep is an international student in a country with no family, friends, OHIP coverage and no automobile insurance, she is left in an extremely vulnerable position. Damandeep had no other choice then to rely on the other driver’s insurance company to cover her treatment. However, the hospital bill from the treatment services that were provided to her from October 18th, 2021, to November 2nd, 2021, amounted to over $79,000.00 CAD. Unfortunately, medical/rehabilitative treatment expenses are capped at $65,000.00 CAD under the Statutory Accident Benefits Scheme. As a result, the $65,000.00 was exhausted quickly and her options became limited. Damandeep still needs to undergo more medical treatment, physiotherapy, and sophisticated surgical procedures in order for her injuries to have the best opportunity to fully heal. Damandeep has already used all her resources in order to continue her treatment however she will need a personal support worker to be by her side and will need more medical treatment in order for her to continue her recovery.

Since the accident, Damandeep’s life has been thrown into chaos. Her dreams of becoming a nurse have been put on hold as she struggles to recover and hopefully regain her pre-accident level of health. Damandeep never intended to rely on crowd funding in order to finance her treatment, but this can be very beneficial to aid her recovery. All funds received through GoFundMe® will go towards paying costs for her unpaid hospital bills (past and future), ongoing medical treatments, rehabilitative treatment, physiotherapy, attendant care, living and rental expenses.