Spinal Cord Injury, Totaled Car, Help Rachael!

Hi, I'm Nicole Jackson and I'm asking for our community to help Rachael Hairston as she recovers from a horrible accident.

She is still in the hospital and had a 6.5 hr surgery on her spine.... She went to Sonoma Valley Hospital by ambulance, and was released being told she was good to go... but she kept throwing up. Thankfully, her sister pushed her to go to Marin General where her spinal cord injury was found.

I was with her with the nuerosurgeon came in and showed her the MRI... and gave her the devestating news that she has a spinal cord injury. When I asked him if it would/could heal, he said it would not. He wasn't sure the extent of its affects that Rachael will continue to live with at this point, but currently her right arm does not have full function and has continuing tingling and numbness.

They had to go in from the front of her neck and remove one of her disks and replace it with some donor bone that was surrounded by metal plates and rods. The surgeon thought the surgery would be 3-4 hours, but ended up being 6.5.

Rachael is a single mom of two children, who were in the accident with her. The kids have massive bruises and scrapes, but thankfully no major injuries. Her son was sitting in the passenger seat and his arm got pinned between the smashed door and his seat, which was extremely scary for him! Thankfully, her daughter's car seat saved her from a lot, but she has bruises and scrapes from the seatbelt and had glass in her feet as well as other random cuts.

Rachael serves our community with her gift of photography (You will regularly find her at large events donating her time to capture the event. She is always present to capture the city's schools... MANY families and businesses are represented by the photos she has captured of them. During the pandemic, you'd find Rachael capturing families on their porches... THAT is just the kind of person she is), tenacity for a good cause (recently working to help the school district by helping to keep the leaders accountable), and all around care for the good of others. She needs our help. None of the logistics are clear yet, and will be a blurry mess for a while I'm sure... but her rent is still due. She still needs to feed her family. She will need care, and the children need therapy. She wont be able to drive herself for an extended period of time, so she will also have to utilize driving help. The list of needs are long, the income is now non existent because of the accident.

Please consider giving! There is also a meal train which you can find on her facebook page. She is also accepting ALLLL of the prayers! <3

Thank You!

Nicole