Fundraiser started to bring home comatose Oshawa woman seriously hurt in Mexico crash
Published January 11, 2023 at 12:49 pm
A woman from Oshawa needs funds for an airlift home after she was hit by a car in Mexico, leaving her seriously hurt and in an induced coma.
The woman, Alisha Walls, was riding her scooter home through the streets of Mexico when she was hit by a car. The impact threw Walls off the scooter and into a nearby wall.
The collision with the car broke Walls’ femur and the impact with the wall fractured her skull. Due to the head injury, Mexican doctors induced a coma to treat the swelling of her brain.
The fundraiser’s founder and Walls’ sister, Jami Vandette, described Walls’ broken leg as a “complicated” break requiring Canadian medical attention and major surgery.
“As soon as she shows signs of improvement she will need to be airlifted home,” Vandette wrote, “the best possible trauma centre is here at home.”
However, Vandette noted the cost of flying Walls to Canada ranged between $57,000 and $76,000 in American dollars paid upfront. As such the family needed the fundraiser to bring Walls home.
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“As we all know Alisha is a tremendous person who would help anyone and is always there when you need her,” wrote Vandette, “We ask today that you be there for her during this difficult time.”
Vandette updated the GoFundMe on January 9 saying MRIs and CT scans have shown less swelling in Walls’ brain. The Mexican doctors and Walls’ family doctor in Canada were working together to ensure a place a Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto for her.
The following day, Vandette confirmed the fundraiser had neared the low-end of the cost for the airlift in less than 24 hours.
Walls remains in stable condition. However her brain is still somewhat swollen as of Vandette’s last update. “We are hoping to see more improvements with the swelling to her brain so we can get her home as fast as we possibly can,” Vandette wrote.
She described her sister as, “such an incredible person truly loved and cared for by so many.”
“Everyone out there who doesn’t know Alisha that continues to share and donate is truly amazing and just goes to show that we as a community and country can all get together to help her get home,” she wrote, “From the bottom of my heart thank you. You have no idea how much this all means to her family and friends.”
As of January 11 the GoFundMe had collected $56,745 from 707 donors. It remains distance from it’s final goal of $76,000. Further donation can be made online.
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