support my community after a freak accident

Hola everyone,

My name is Liv and I'm currently living in the caribbean of Costa Rica.

Just 8 weeks ago, we experienced a scary electric storm at night here. The lightening was striking around the property and shaking our houses. At around 3am I finally fell asleep, but was awoken some time before 4am by sound of a tree falling and crashing through the roof of my house. By pure instinct, I jumped out of bed and managed to get a couple of steps, landing with my back leaning against the door of my room, trapped inside the mosquito net, in the dark, with branches from the tree filling my room, a strong smell of wet wood and rain coming through the broken roof. I saw that the tree had fallen right on my bed. I screamed for help and luckily my neighbours had been awoken by the sound of the trees falling and came to my rescue. They couldn't open the door, as the tree was supported by the doorframe, so it was too risky, and instead they ended up using a machete to cut open the thin wall between the rooms, as almost perfectly timed the red cross and firefighters arrived around 5am and got me out (I had happily blocked out when one of them slipped and they dropped me off the stretcher), but I was so deeply grateful. My leg was broken and painful.

I was taken to the closest hospital an hour away. They took an X-ray of my leg and saw that the tibia was broken in two places and the fibula in one place. I needed surgery, but there was a 3 week wait at the local hospital. My travel insurance had run out a couple of weeks before and I had forgotten to renew it, so I would either have to pay at the local hospital, or pay to get surgery immediately at a private hospital in the capital, which both would add up to around the same price in the end. And I am so lucky, priviledged and grateful that my family were able to get money together quickly and I was able to get surgery the next day by skilled doctors who put a metal rod and screws into my leg. And they helped me with a favourable price, considering to how much it could have been for a "complicated" fracture of the bone.

My mum, all four of my grandparents and my great grandma all pitched in. However, my family is not wealthy, my mum exhausted all of her savings and also borrowed money from her partners company in order to help me.

So I would really love to pay them all back, as well as help my friend - who's house I was renting - rebuild the house. I told her to keep the deposit I had paid when renting the house. In addition to her losing a house, which is an income for her family with 3 children, they also slept together with me, housed me and took care of me, holding my hand through panick attacks for 7 weeks, until I became more independent and able to do basic stuff easier, and decided to move closer to the beach so that I could walk (with crutch) more, as the doctor said that this will support my healing, and where we lived is in the jungle with hills and gravel roads. (I am currently staying with a friend, sleeping in his bed and he sleeps on a mattress outside of the room, bless him.)

I am currently not able to work, as I am a body therapist and yoga instructor, and I am still recovering and healing, and the money I was/am earning here are low compared to the cost of living. But I survive and have a lot of beautiful people around me, I am surrounded by nature and very content with my life here. And I would really love to give back to all of the people who supported me.

So I am asking kind hearts to help me support and give back to those who I've so gratefully received from during this time, AND continue to be supported by, as I am still healing.

Anything beyond what I am asking, I will use for therapy for myself, as I unfortunately experience PTSD, and for physical therapy for my recovery.

I am somehow lucky, because I have studied trauma and the nervous system for the past 3 years, so I am managing the PTSD much better than if I didn't have these techniques, however it is the uncontrollable panick attacks that are the most difficult for me to regulate, as they are triggered through similar experiences of the night of the accident (sound and smell especially) and I go straight into survival mode.

My friend suggested me to open a go fund me, and at first I had resistance, as I thought that I am quite priviledged coming from europe, and others deserve the help more than me. But she reminded me that we all deserve to receive support and to be able to also give it, and that a freak accident and PTSD are good reasons to ask for help. And that I am not blessed financially. I am also looking for a new home, as the house was destroyed in the accident.

So I will break it down:

This will all be paid directly back to my family

She is a beautiful person who supports the local community through her projects, she homeschools her children

Thank you so so so much for reading and considering support me and supporting those around me.

Peace and love.