Please help Diane Blunt after a tragic accident

On Friday, October 14th, while my parents, who celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary in June, were driving the back roads of Tospfield, my Dad, Chris Blunt, who was behind the wheel, apparently went into cardiac arrest & hit a tree. The Fire Chief told me that they worked on him for 50 minutes in the field, but were unable to save him. My mom, Diane Blunt, was first taken to Beverly Hospital, but then transferred to Lahey-Burlington, with life threatening injuries. My Mom has spent 2 weeks in ICU and has undergone 6 surgeries so far. She’s had surgery on a torn aorta, both femurs, knee, ankle, foot, toes & hand. She’s in need of at least one more surgery-and is looking at a total shoulder replacement in 6 months or so, but the doctors want to give her time to heal before putting her through that. She may be looking at another surgery on her leg, as well. For now, she’ll stay in a shoulder immobilizer; she’s also not allowed to bear weight on a her left leg, for at least 8 weeks. Mom has many injuries which can’t be surgically repaired, but are quite painful-she fractured her third lumbar vertebrae & has to wear a back brace to help stabilize her spine when sitting up. The brace is pretty painful because of multiple broken ribs. To say that it’s a miracle that my mom survived is an understatement—but we all know that she’s a fighter! The doctors & nurses @ Lahey have been awesome, but hospitals don’t keep patients for long stays as they did in the past. Once she no longer needs this level of care, Mom will be discharged to Whittier Rehab hospital in Haverhill—where the real work will begin!! She’ll be taught how to care for herself, get around the house—all with the goal of restoring as much independence as possible. The doctors say that Mom will definitely be discharged home long before she is mobile. It’s going to be a slow go of it…and that’s why I’m reaching out for your help. Mom & Dad own a single family home in Georgetown, on an acre of property. We’re going to need a wheelchair ramp built, conversion of the bathroom to make it handicapped accessible & many more modifications-to make it possible for her to get around in a wheelchair. With all of the changes in healthcare, it’s hard to know what will be covered by insurance—home modifications definitely aren’t covered.

Reaching out like this is something I’ve never done, but we’re looking at huge expenses to make this all happen, not to mention having to coordinate transportation for many follow-up doctor’s appointments & to outpatient rehab. My Mom, brothers & I have so much appreciated your kind words of encouragement, but we’re not quite sure how we’re going to manage this next set of challenges. Anything you can donate to this GoFundMe will mean so very much to all of us.