Emily Progin, Content Manager
[email protected] / 800.642.8399
Release: Immediate
BREAKTHROUGHS FOR GRANDMA AFTER LIFE-CHANGING ACCIDENT
New Hope: Diagnosis, Treatment, and $10,000 Grant Opportunity
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—64-year-old Lynn Knutson was astonished to learn that her story of sustaining a brain injury during a customer courtesy carry-out was making headlines nationally and internationally in 2025.
This month, she’s experiencing renewed hope through 3 key milestones: a new diagnosis, new treatment options, and a $10,000 grant opportunity through The Plaintiff Fund via the nonprofit Help Hope Live.
Lynn sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2019 while she was working at a local grocery store. As Lynn was assisting a customer with loading a vehicle, the customer’s SUV back hatch smashed down on the top of Lynn’s head.
Since then, she’s been living with extensive and debilitating physical, cognitive, visual, sensory, and balance issues, including severe light sensitivity (photophobia), which makes it extremely difficult to safely function in any public environment.
Unable to work, she depends on SSDI and food stamps to survive. During some years, her out-of-pocket medical costs have exceeded her entire annual SSDI payments. That’s why she was forced to start fundraising with the nonprofit Help Hope Live at https://helphopelive.org/campaign/23027/
Coverage about the freak accident and its devastating aftermath spread like wildfire in 2025, hitting outlets ranging from PEOPLE Magazine to the Daily Mail UK. The fundraising campaign in Lynn’s honor raised over $3,875.
Lynn received several exciting updates to kick off 2026. In February, she shared that she had received a diagnosis of cranial cervical instability, or CCI.
“The deep ligaments in my neck are too loose to support my head, spine, and body,” she explained. As a result, the vertebrae in her neck are unstable, presenting a constant threat to her spinal cord.
“That puts my brain in a protective fight-or-flight mode,” explained Lynn. “It creates even more debilitating symptoms.”
To Lynn, the CCI diagnosis represents relief: it means a single unifying explanation for the complex challenges she has experienced since the injury, which now impact her entire body.
The diagnosis also means being able to pursue more specialized care and therapies for CCI.
However, those therapies come with costs that far exceed the SSDI support available to Lynn. One therapy available in Scottsdale is $750 out of pocket every 3 weeks. Another is $175 per session with 24 or more sessions needed to get full results.
Another promising but pricey option: a highly specialized ligament injection procedure, which is only available outside of her home state and costs at least $15,000 out of pocket.
That’s why Lynn is continuing her fundraising efforts with Help Hope Live—and she received big news this month: a $5,000 grant is being donated to Help Hope Live in her honor through The Plaintiff Fund.
If Lynn’s community can raise an additional $1125, The Plaintiff Fund will contribute a $5,000 matching grant towards her ongoing expenses for $10,000 in total impact.
Donations can be made at: https://helphopelive.org/campaign/23027/
The funds will be life changing for Lynn. Because she is working with Help Hope Live, all funds raised in Lynn’s honor will cover only verified medical expenses and related costs.
Unlike a GoFundMe campaign, since the funds raised through Help Hope Live never reach a personal bank account, they also won’t jeopardize Lynn’s eligibility for the SSDI and other benefits she depends on to survive.
Help Hope Live verifies medical and financial need for every patient and enables tax-deductible donations for donors.
Help Hope Live is a national nonprofit that specializes in engaging communities in secure, tax-deductible fundraising campaigns for people who need a transplant or are affected by a catastrophic injury or illness. Since 1983, campaigns organized by Help Hope Live have raised over $193 million to pay patient expenses, assisting more than 25,000 patient families. ###
