Jenny & Lauren's Olympic Coast Accident

Lauren Perry and Jenny Vu, along with their Irish Setter, Iver, took a trip to Washington State to celebrate Lauren’s 24th birthday. On second day of their trip, they decided to go to Ruby Beach. They drove 2.5 hours to get there at 1 pm, arriving while the tides were still low. They began to explore and decided to walk a bit towards the tree coverage side of the tourist area.

 

They were a few feet away from the shore line due to Iver being scared to get too close. They stopped for a moment to take a few photos and videos. While setting their things down, Lauren turned her head to look at the water in time to see a huge wave coming their way. The wave was 5-6 feet above their heads, later discovered as a rogue wave. The girls tried to get away in time, but it was too late. The wave crashed down on them, pushing them face first into the rocks. While underwater, a large drift wood tree that was also inside the wave, landed on top of them, crushing both of them. Once the wave subsided, Lauren was able to stand up but Jenny was blacked out on the shore. Lauren rushed to her and pulled her as far up shore as she was able to before falling and blacking out. Jenny woke up and began crawling to the crowd of people a ways away while yelling for help. Lauren woke up soon after and joined her. A family finally heard them and quickly rushed over. Bystanders at the beach jumped into action and were able to administer first aid while calling 911. The ambulances arrived and rushed them to Forks hospital.

 

At Forks hospital the doctors and nurses did everything they could to stabilize the girls before sending them to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. They were put in the same ambulance for a 45 minute drive to the airport. Due to the massive storm that night, they were unable to use the helicopter to take them to Seattle and instead had to fly by plane. Halfway through the ambulance ride the ambulance blew a tire while driving and crashed into a tree. Lauren and Jenny were not fully strapped down correctly to the gurneys and were flung around during the accident. They were sent a new ambulance who finished the drive. Once arriving to the airport they were loaded into two separate medical planes and flown to Harborview Hospital. The doctors determined that Jenny had ten fractured ribs, lacerations on her liver, internal bleeding, pulmonary contusion, a broken pelvis, and a concussion. Lauren had internal bleeding, lacerations on her liver, a broken pelvis, and pulmonary contusion. Both girls had to have pelvis surgery.

 

After almost two weeks, Lauren was released to her family in Oklahoma, but is still not released to go home. Jenny is still in Seattle awaiting discharge to a nursing facility in Oklahoma to have around the clock care as she recovers. Both are currently wheelchair bound and unable to return to work until further notice.

 

We are raising funds to help Lauren, Jenny, and their families with the cost of medical bills, the medical flight, out-of-state living expenses, and transportation to return home to Oklahoma City.