My friend whom I have known for many years, 
has a daughter and on Christmas Eve night, Gracee was with a couple of friends (in her Covid-19 safe bubble). She wanted to go home and one of the friends relatives gave her a ride. Unfortunately the driver was foolish and tried to pass a car on a two lane road going down hill and the rear end of the vehicle clipped the front end of the other vehicle that was involved. This sent the car into a flip and it rolled five times before finally landing on its roof.

The glass exploded out of the windows and the doors were crushed shut. Paramedics had to pull her out of the rear window opening to get her to the hospital asap. She sustained glass and debris cuts all over her body, bruising everywhere, and most significantly, a gruesome leg injury which required surgery on Christmas Day.

Thankfully she did not have a head trauma because she was wearing her seat belt and braced herself when she realized what was happening. The orthopedic surgeon said she was lucky, but the leg injury was traumatic. The surgery went well and she is now out of the hospital and recovering. The wounds and openings were so large and jagged that they had to cut even more to clean out glass and debris from behind the knee cap, above the knee, in the leg, and repair a torn tendon next to her quad muscle. So there's still a possibility that she will need a skin graft that the surgeon mentioned.

She has difficulty sleeping, nightmares and flashbacks. It's clear that she's now dealing with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) along with the worry and stress of everything related to the accident. That's more to cover. She can't work for several months. The job she was working for a few years has been shut down since Spring of 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions. The unemployment benefits available have run out.

Unfortunately they found out that the driver was uninsured. Thankfully she still has personal health insurance, but it will only cover a portion of the surgery cost and medical bills. She was lucky enough to have a friend in the home health care industry who took care of her part time at no cost for two weeks. Not sure if physical therapy will be covered and that's a staggering $300-$500 per session. It seems everything associated with medical needs has become so expensive and not everything is covered by most companies. If a skin graft becomes necessary, it may not be covered since many companies consider it to be "cosmetic" and will be an out of pocket expense.

Her surgery follow up happened last week. The full leg brace that was on since surgery came off and the stitches were removed. They put her in a smaller compression brace so she can begin the process of bending her knee, putting full weight on her leg, and schedule the physical therapy sessions.

Understandably it's difficult times for many of us, but if you can donate anything to help cover her basic necessities, rent, utilities, physical therapy, and other upcoming essentials during this time of uncertainty in recovering, it would be extremely appreciated. I have permission from my friend and her daughter to create this fund. Every donation will go directly to their account through this campaign and be put toward everything needed until such time she can rehab her leg and hopefully get back to work when restrictions are lifted. Please feel free to share this fund. Prayers to Gracee on this journey to full recovery. Thank you very much!

This picture was taken after surgery.

This is Gracee before the accident.