Hi, my name is Darla. I am 50 years old. I've got amazing grown children. I am a career waitress and a single parent.

In December I was involved in a vehicle vs pedestrian accident. I was the pedestrian. I can't really believe that it happened, let alone that I lived to tell the story. I was walking home from work. A distracted driver did not see the flashing lights, or me, as I entered the crosswalk. He hit me at 40km/hour. I went by ambulance to the hospital in Winkler, Manitoba Canada, where I went through a battery of tests. I sustained a multitude of lacerations and bruises on my head and legs, a broken fibula, and a traumatic brain injury. The next day I went home and tried to get on with life. That has been challenging, interesting, and frustrating. I am off work and have been since the accident. I have had to rely on others for almost every aspect of my life for months now. My boys have had to learn how to become caregivers while trying to cope with their trauma from the accident.

We do not sue for damages where I live, and Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) is paying me 90% of my wages. However, 90% of minimum wage is certainly not going to take care of a family of 3, and everyone knows that a server makes their money from tips. MPI was initially paying a "personal care allowance" that essentially paid my boys to take care of me, but that was cut off in June. That personal care allowance was how we were surviving, and MPI phoned me June 1st to tell me that effective immediately we no longer qualify for that money. The entire process of having to pay out of pocket and submit receipts to be reimbursed takes time. Almost a month to be exact. And that has put all of our bills behind.

Our rent is $1025/month, plus utilities. Our water bill is outstanding right now at over $300, and our hydro bill at over $600. Manitoba Hydro has been outstanding working with me so I can make bi-weekly payments, and I just found out I qualify for a small grant that will take care of the majority of that bill. We have been struggling since the pandemic shut down everything, and the restaurant I worked for laid us off 3 separate times. I am at risk of eviction by the end of August, and we have nowhere to go. I have no money, I am unable to return to work at this moment, and my boys have been unable to find and keep a job since the accident. I have tried to explain my situation to my landlords. They were unsympathetic. I also have a specialist appointment in Winnipeg in August to check the extent of my brain injury. We do not have a vehicle, and the transport service costs $245 each way for the appointment.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Thank you for any help you might be able to offer.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, and I want you to know how much I appreciate every one of you.

Sincerly,

Darla and her boys