Help Maggie Recover from a Car Accident

Our friend Maggie Smith was in a very bad car accident shortly after midnight, the morning of Tuesday, February 25th, in a taxi on her way into downtown Vancouver. At the corner of Cambie and Nelson, an SUV collided with the taxi, and the cab rolled more than once, ending up upside down and sliding down the street on its roof. Our understanding is that the cab driver and the people who were in the SUV are ok and are not in the hospital. Unfortunately, Maggie was hospitalized and is still in the hospital (at the time of writing this on Sunday, March 1st). Doctors estimate it may be about another week before she can be released. The emergency team advised Maggie that her seatbelt saved her life. She strongly encourages you to buckle up!

Maggie has sustained the following injuries: broken ribs, a broken sternum, abdominal hematomas covering her entire right side from her pelvic area/hip around to her lower back/glute, lower abdominal hematomas running across her belly, lumbar spine pain and lower back neuralgia/nerve compression, a possible chip to the bone in her right hip, a bruised left hip with broken skin, a small laceration to her liver, mildly collapsed lungs, soft tissue damage to her left shoulder, and whiplash. She feels very lucky to be alive.

This terrible experience is obviously greatly affecting her physically, mentally and emotionally. Aside from physical pain, she feels scared, realizing that a long recovery process and rehabilitation lie ahead. A bit ironically, she works as a Fascial Stretch Therapist (FST) helping her clients to rehabilitate injuries and educating people on their own movement and flexibility. Additionally, she teaches kids in China who are learning English online and is already missing her students. Maggie is also passionate about dance and loves attending dance classes in her spare time. She is continually inspired by the community of performers and teachers. She was about to head to a dance intensive and had been chosen to perform live in Las Vegas.

Much of Maggie's income and livelihood depends on her ability to practice FST, which requires that she be healthy and mobile herself. The ultimate goal of this campaign is to enable her to return to work–and to be able to dance again–by helping with the costs of her rehabilitation and living expenses while she recovers.

The accident will prevent her from working for quite some time: our best estimate, at this early stage, is 4-6 months. This will greatly affect her business, personal income and ability to pay for basic needs such as food, rent, bills, and the various unexpected expenses that will come up as a result of the accident. For example, she anticipates that, once she is well enough to fly, she will sometimes need to pay for flights between Vancouver, where she will need to be in order to meet with doctors, her lawyer, etc, and Mexico, where she has been setting up a business and will have various matters to attend to.

People have been asking how they can support Maggie or if they can get her a gift, so we have set up this campaign. This way, rather than sending flowers, chocolates or other gifts, anyone who would like to help can contribute towards her practical day to day expenses by making ANY contribution you feel called to give. We know she will be immensely grateful and that she has difficulty asking for help, and that she truly needs it right now.

Funds donated will be used towards:

- physical rehabilitation or other medical expenses not covered by her Canadian medical services plan or ICBC

- therapy

- living expenses such as accommodations and meals while she is unable to work (there is typically a long wait for an insurance settlement)

- travel expenses to meet with lawyer and ICBC (car insurance) adjuster etc

Maggie had been working hard at making her business successful after some financial setbacks over the past several years, so this sudden wrench in her efforts has been quite a blow to her. We hope that with a little support from those that are able to help, she can take some time to heal and care for herself and be able to have the best chance possible at a full recovery. We hope that you can help Maggie so that she can work on rehabilitation and healing without feeling too stressed about how she will meet her basic needs.

Thank you so much for your generosity!