HELP! Mom Hit By Drunk Driver in Her Own Driveway!

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”

— Oscar Wilde

• For anyone that is donating or cannot donate now, please keep Kari in your thoughts and prayers for a full recovery. Please share this Fundraiser far and wide so that we can reach everyone's hearts in her time of need.

Hi  

I'm Brandon, and this fundraiser is for my friend, Kari. She has had a pretty rough year that began when she was hit by a Drunk Driver on April 3rd, 2023. 

*Story of Kari's Accident:

In the evening of Monday, April 3rd, 2023, a heavily intoxicated male was speeding [@ 65-70mph] up Norpoint Way [in NE Tacoma]. It was about 5:30pm, when he was moving in the direction of Kari's house, and as he was approaching her location, he was also texting with someone on his phone, and since his eyes weren't on the road, his car began drifting to the right [out of his lane], across the bike lane, across the shoulder and through the 4 Giant five-foot-tall neon orange traffic cones [that she'd put in the shoulder area whenever she worked on her car], then he traveled over the sidewalk, and 'BAM' hit Kari's backside with his car [while she was standing on a little stool in her own driveway]. The impact launched Kari about 20 ft UP into the air, and about 25 ft THRU the air, where she landed in the middle of the road; fracturing her skull when her head hit the pavement; knocking her unconscious. She never saw him coming. I was in the backyard when I heard the loud and unfamiliar sounds of the accident, so I dropped everything and went running to the front of the house where I found her lifeless body in the center lane of Norpoint Way with her face crushed-in, and her nose barely attached. Her right leg had an open-compound fracture just above the ankle, and she had some internal bleeding from one of her arteries being torn away from her spinal cord area. The long list and extent of Kari's injuries was quite severe. She was rushed to St Joe's Hospital in Tacoma, where she spent the next 30 days primarily in the ICU. During her stay, she had about a dozen surgeries to put her back together before she was finally released to go home.  

Even though Kari was home from the Hospital in May [2023]; her medical treatments were far from over. She had appointments every couple weeks. I mean, here we are a year later in March [2024], and she is still seeking physician care for some of her more extensive injuries; this includes Physical Therapy for her broken/shattered leg, and her upcoming surgery in April. This surgery's objective is to re-construct her airways & nasal passages. All, in hopes that she'll be able to breath out of her nose again. She's also hoping it might help stimulate and/or restore her sense of taste & her sense of smell, but even if it doesn't, she's just excited about not being a 'mouth-breather' anymore.

Thankfully, the progress Kari's making in her physical recovery is positive, but unfortunately, her Financial state, or lack there of, is currently pointing in the other direction. She didn't have any expectations of receiving a big payday from the driver's insurance company or anything like that, all she was hoping for was enough to cover her basic essentials; to put her back in the same position she was in before this accident happened. Especially, since she has not been released to go back to work since the accident happened. Kari's a single mom and is the only income in her household. She has always worked [sometimes even 2 jobs], so her not being able to go back to work over this past (almost) year, and still not having a release date for when she can go back to work [or even drive] yet, has definitely had a negative impact on her ability to stay on top of her bills and monthly living expenses. So, right now, one thing topping her "most important" list these days is paying off the bills that have been stacking up over this past year; primarily her rent/back-rent], so she can keep a roof over their heads. Kari is praying every day that everything works out for her to not have to move-out of this place that's been home to her and her daughter for over 9 years. And, if she does have to move-out by April 1st, she has no idea where to go, or what to do with everything in the house. So,fingers- crossed this doesn't happen. 

On a few different occasions, Kari has made the comment that "it would suck to have been hit by this car, only to become homeless from being hit by this car." You could tell that she meant it, but her tone when she'd say it was always light-hearted like she never thought it would actually happen that way. So, when she got the phone call last Monday (3/11) afternoon, and she found out that the driver of the car doesn't have a valid driver's license, doesn't have valid auto insurance; that he just sat in his car and got drunk just before driving toward home. Meaning, there's no recourse for this case...I'm sure you can only Imagine how one's face might look at the very moment they realize that a reality that they never thought was possible is lookin' very probable.

That is when her daughter and I thought we'd team up to start this fundraiser for Kari. We hope it's able to raise enough for Kari to pay her back rent to current [hopefully by April 1st] so she won't be evicted. If she is gifted enough to pay her rent to current status, the next bill to be paid is her TPU, then her Cellphone/Wifi, and lastly to replace her car that was totaled in the accident. This way, when she does finally get released to go back to work, she will have a car to get her to & from.

So, pretty please, if anyone reading this can spare anything at all; even if it's only a few cents; it all helps. This woman is one of the most humble, down-to-earth, hard-working, and loving humans on this planet. She doesn't deserve to lose everything because of someone else's bad choices. I pray that it's not too late.

Thank you so much for your time, and for sharing Kari's Fundraiser.

Have a wonderful rest of your day

 

**Every Donation, big or small, will go directly to Kari. And, with 100% of the donated funds going towards easing these stressful days for her, she will be allocating them in this order:

1) Back-Rent upto Current-Rent

2) TPU

3) Cell Phone/WiFi

4) Replace her 2005 Mazda 3 that was totaled