The Short Story: On August 3rd, 2024 Wendy Mikson was in a serious motorcycle accident and, once discharged from the hospital, she will need to recover in a long term care facility. Wendy will not be able to work for several months, and as a single mother of five, her expenses are mounting as she tries to focus on healing her fractured body. We are asking the community, whom she has given so much help to over the years, for financial help to support her and her family as they get through this difficult time.

The Longer Story: Wendy's accident occurred out of state, and resulted in a brain bleed and several breaks throughout her body, including; a broken neck, broken ribs, broken and torn shoulder, and shattered knee and lower leg. She also has severe damage to the skin on her body and face that will require surgery in the future. Her motorcycle has been totaled.

The time since the accident has been a whirlwind of doctors, hospitals, transports, and multiple long surgeries focusing on rebuilding Wendy's shoulder and knee/leg. At some point this week she will leave the hospital and transfer to a facility for her long term care and healing. Finding a placement that can accommodate her needs has been difficult because of her unusual mobility challenges due to having severe injuries in both her top and lower half, which leaves her needing two physical therapists at once to move her and work with her.

To know Wendy, is to know someone who has given her entire life to others. As a single mom of five kids for the last ten years, it has not been uncommon for her to juggle several jobs at once to make ends meet. In fact, at the time of her accident, she was working three jobs to pay to send her fourth-born to college.

On top of the unimaginable grind of working multiple jobs to support five children over the years without much outside financial support, Wendy has a long history of giving time to others. She raised all five of her kids to do the same, having them work next to her at the local food bank on weekends, and regularly taking in and finding homes for lost neighborhood animals. As her children got older, they and she, would often donate childcare hours to local families in need as a way to pay-it-forward to all who had helped them following her divorce. A few years ago, thanks to a generous tuition assistance program through work, she began taking college courses towards a bachelor's degree in business, which is almost complete. She will need to take time off from being a student to focus on healing for now and is deeply frustrated.

The Need: Wendy works full time at Fed-ex, through which she has her medical insurance. She also has two part time jobs: at the Ronald McDonald House in Naperville (where she started as a volunteer) and catering for a local restaurant several times a month. After a week of paperwork, phone calls, and research by her family and friends, we have recently learned that of Wendy's three jobs, only Fed-ex will be providing financial benefits during her period of disability, and, it will only pay out at 60% of her regular salary. By our estimates, she will be losing out on around $2k of needed income per week, while all of her bills: her rent, care and feeding for her kids who still live at home (including school supplies, food, gas to get themselves to school & work), car payments, etc..remain the same.

Add to those life expenses, the medical debt she has recently collected from a multi-state, multi week, hospital stay and several surgeries, plus her out of pocket cost for the care facility over the next 12 weeks, and she is in need of deep financial support to get through the next few months. When she is discharged from long term care, hopefully in 12 weeks time, she will also need equipment for home use, like a motorized wheelchair and a ramp for her home.

Additionally, if we are able to collect enough, we would like to possibly afford to fly her son, who is an active member of the United States Air Force and stationed out of state, to come and see her before he begins a long-term deployment in Korea next month. (UPDATE: Due to the generous donation of frequent flier miles from a person who saw this fundraiser, we were able to have Joey come for a visit and we are all so grateful!)

In Conclusion: If you know Wendy, you know that she is absolutely everyone else's rock through hard times. She has built many of us back up when we have hit rock bottom, and it is hard to count the number of people we have heard from over the last week who have said, "She has done so much for me, how can I help!?".

Also if you know Wendy, then you know that she never asks for help. She once went several months without heat or a working stove after she became a single mom due to not wanting to "be a burden on others", while on the flip side she was STILL giving her last dollar and the shirt off her back to those she heard of who needed it. Honestly, it has been difficult for all of us to convince her to publish this page and ask for assistance like this, but we feel strongly that it is time for all of us to give back to the person who has taken care of us so much over the years, by taking care of her now.

Thank you, in advance, for your generosity in supporting an amazing person that we all deeply love and care for. We know the ask is large, but with all of us chipping away at it, we can accomplish something truly beautiful here, and show love and support to a woman who has given those things so freely to all of us. No amount is too small, and if you are unable to give financially at this time, please keep Wendy and her children in your prayers as they endure the next few months.