Nicole Leblanc

A note from Nicole: As many of you know, I was involved in a serious car accident in the summer of 2014. I am incredibly grateful for all the support that I have received and I can’t thank you all enough for your encouraging messages, visits, and everything you have done for me. With this website I am asking for your continued support.
-Nicole

On July 16, 2014 Nicole was involved in a collision with an 18-wheeler which caused her C5 vertebrae to break and C6 vertebrae to shatter, sending shards of her spinal column into her spinal cord. She was rushed to Ben Taub Trauma Center in Houston, where she underwent five hours of extensive spinal fusion surgery to fuse her bones back together. The surgery was successful, although she suffered permanent damage to her spinal cord. This traumatic accident rendered her tetraplegic, severely limiting her ability to live a normal life. As a tetraplegic, she has paralysis below her waist, in parts of her arms, in her hands and fingers, in her trunk, and in some of the systems within her body. This also means loss of control or impairment of bowel, bladder, sexual function, digestion, breathing and other autonomic functions. Sensation is impaired or lost in most areas of the body that are affected by the paralysis. Furthermore, there are many secondary and long-term health complications that come with a cervical spinal cord injury.

As you may or may not know, the road to recovery from a spinal cord injury is a long one, and very expensive. This website was set up with the aid of HelpHOPELive to help people contribute to her recovery by donating money that will go toward funding outpatient therapy at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston and a recovery program at Project Walk. A monthly donation is also an option to have your funding be ongoing throughout her recovery.

The TIRR outpatient therapy program is geared toward providing therapy and establishing independence for individuals coping with paralysis. In simpler terms, TIRR will help Nicole learn how to live her life in a wheelchair.

Project Walk is an internationally recognized recovery program that offers intense physical fitness and rehabilitation for those living with spinal cord injury. Project Walk will aim to get her out of the wheelchair.

Nicole would like to participate in TIRR’s Outpatient Rehabilitation program and Project Walk so that she can strengthen the parts of her body most affected by her injury. She is confident that by utilizing the facilities provided by these programs, she can reintegrate herself as a functional member of society with the ability to live a happy, healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, Project Walk is not covered under private insurance and must be completely privately funded. Insurance covers 40 therapy visits at TIRR, which equates to two months per year.

She has met her initial goal of $43,200, which will continue to support her through September of 2016. This second fundraising goal, totalling $40,000, will help to cover more than therapy and rehabilitation services. The most expensive costs of all are the routine, annual medical expenses that burden Nicole and her family. Caregiver services alone cost a minimum of $30,000, annually. The first couple years are the worst because costs include large equipment purchases and other major expenses for things like house modifications.

To help offset such expenses, a fundraising campaign in Nicole’s honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive, are held by HelpHOPELive in the South-Central Spinal Cord Injury Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for injury-related expenses only.

Thank you for your support!