Team Danica

It always happens to someone else . . . until it happens to you.

On February 19, 2013 that reality hit home in the cruelest way possible for 23-year-old Sudbury native Danica McPhee. While on vacation in Cancun, Mexico Danica suffered an accidental fall that broke her back and left her in a wheelchair unable to walk. 

Injured, in a foreign country and with no travel insurance – the trip was booked on her boyfriend’s mother’s credit card and the health insurance extended to immediate family only – Danica underwent emergency surgery in Mexico, was airlifted back to Canada - at a significant cost in unrecoverable medical bills -  and underwent a second round of surgery to stabilize a badly damaged spine – all within 24 hours.

Doctors told her that her L1 vertebrae had “burst”. All Danica knew was that her legs no longer worked the way they were supposed to work.

Prior to her injury Danica was a strong independent young woman. Working part time and attending classes at George Brown College in American Sign Language, Danica’s adult life had really just begun. Now, her ambitions and dreams are temporarily on hold as she struggles to adapt to her new reality. 

Throughout her ordeal Danica has remained strong.  She is undergoing intensive Rehabilitation at Lyndhurst Rehabilitation Center and will return to her parents’ home on April 3, where renovations are already underway to make the home accessible.

Despite the impressive strides she has made in her recovery, actually being released early on the strength of an inspiring physical and mental determination, Danica’s life today is far different than it was before.  Before her fall, Danica spent the night dancing at her boyfriend’s mother’s 50th birthday party – the reason for the trip in the first place. When she awoke from the last of her surgeries she bravely told her parents: “If that was my last night with my legs I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Help us to celebrate and preserve that winning spirit. We are raising funds to help Danica transition back to an independent lifestyle . . . where she will continue her education and put this setback behind her.  Whether she ever walks again or not . . . Danica is determined to live life to the fullest. Your donations will help as she embraces her self-described “new beginning” . . . one step at a time.

We would love to extend our invitation to all for a Benefit Evening to be held Friday April 26th, 2013 at College Boreal, Sudbury Ontario.  For information please contact Denise @ 705-969-3940. 

Accepting reality means adapting to a new way of thinking and living.  Many years of research and design have made the world more accessible but it does not come without a price.  We have just begun to realize the cost of independence.

Your donations will go towards wheelchairs, braces, lifts, and the magnitude of adaptive devices which will all aid in Danica's quest for success!