Help Emily McFarland Recover
Hi, I am Hazel Topoleski. I am fundraising for my adopted granddaughter, Emily McFarland.
Don McFarland lives with me. His daughter who is in her mid-20s, Emily McFarland, was at my house the day before the accident and was so pleased that she had bought some barstools for her new apartment along with some other things and that I had given her some plants and plant cuttings. I remarked that she looked so beautiful and so happy because things were finally going her way. Being a food service worker, she had been unemployed during the pandemic. Her future finally looked bright. Then, everything changed. She was riding her bike from her great new job that she has had for a few weeks to her new apartment. At about 4:30pm, she was struck by a vehicle so hard that it broke her bike in half and she ended up on the hood of the vehicle. The driver, having no insurance nor driver’s license, was quickly arrested and is in jail.
Emily was treated at University Hospital. Fortunately, none of her bones are broken except for her left cheek bone that has a hairline fracture and her nose. Miraculously, there are no brain nor other internal injuries. Her left leg has a huge contusion and she can't use that leg to walk. There are many bruises and abrasions all over her body. The left side of her face below her eye is numb. Hopefully, the nerves will repair themselves. Emily was released from the hospital the next day.
Having no health insurance, as well as the driver not having auto insurance, Emily is responsible for the medical bills that were incurred including x-rays, CT Scans, MRIs, blood tests, medications, several physicians and radiologists, and charges for the emergency and trauma rooms. She will be unable to go back to work for quite some time so she will have no income to pay her rent and other bills, buy food, start paying the medical bills, etc. Because her bike was destroyed, she has no way to travel to her job when she is able to go back to work. In addition, because of the trauma she endured, she now is afraid to ride a bike on the streets. She wants to buy a cheap, dependable “clunker” automobile so that she will feel safer when travelling. Although, Emily is a strong, hardworking, cheerful, positive person who always takes hardships in stride, and looks forward, this situation has been a real blow to her physically and emotionally.
She wants to publically thank the guys at Firehouse 16, 2110 Nogalitos Street, San Antonio, TX who were her 1st responders and who secured her bicycle at the fire station, as well as, the hospital staff at University Hospital. Some staff at Gus's World Gus’s World Famous Hot & Spicy Fried Chicken offered to take care of her at her apartment when she needed it for which she is most appreciative.
Emily wants to THANK EVERYONE, as does her family, who said prayers for her and realizes that she has been blessed.
Any contribution made, no matter how small, to assist Emily with easing her worries financially truly is appreciated. All she needs to worry about now is healing.