On November 19th, my mom, Lizza, had just finished her workday and was only five minutes from home when she was involved in a devastating four vehicle accident. A distracted driver in a Dodge Journey swerved into oncoming traffic and hit my mom head on. The impact caused her car to turn at a 90 degree angle and a second vehicle a Ford F-250 which was traveling behind her at the time, then T-boned her on her driver side. The impact then caused the Dodge to also hit the car behind it.

When I arrived at the scene, OCFRD was working quickly and safely to extricate my mom, and we are forever grateful for their incredible care. It took them thirty eight minutes and she was transported to ORMC, where she remained in the emergency room for nearly 21 hours before being rushed into emergency surgery.

Her bowel had perforated from the impact and seatbelt force, causing a dangerous infection in her blood that resulted in her going septic. The doctors removed a portion of her bowel and small intestines and cleaned up as much as possible. She also suffered fractures in her L2 vertebra, several ribs, and a concussion.

After nine days in the hospital, my mom was transferred to a rehab facility in Ocoee, where she continued daily therapy for two weeks.

Unfortunately, her recovery faced another setback. On December 19th, she was readmitted to ORMC with difficulty breathing. It was later discovered that she had pulmonary embolisms (blood clots) in both lungs and pneumonia, caused by prolonged immobility from her injuries and surgery. Despite these challenges, my mom is continuing to recover and growing stronger every day. She longs for the day to be able to hold her grandbabies again.

The drivers responsible had very limited insurance coverage, one had minimal bodily injury coverage, and the other had none, leaving my mom with overwhelming medical bills and therapy costs and a car that was a total loss.

We are truly grateful for any support you can give. Your generosity will help cover her medical and rehabilitation expenses, allowing her to focus fully on healing. We are also deeply thankful for the firefighters who helped at the scene, all her amazing doctors/nurses, and for our family and friends who have stood by us every step of the way.

We feel so blessed to have my mom still here with us, getting stronger every day. Every bit of help, encouragement, and kindness means the world to us.