Amanda Drury didn’t want to ask for help, but a Facebook post is doing just that as she hopes for assistance in paying for her mother’s medical bills in North Dakota following a deadly motorcycle crash last week.
Tammy Collins, 50, originally from Barrie and her 51-year-old fiancé Rick Bourre, who originally hails from Rainy River in northern Ontario, were on their way home from a motorcycle trip to Alberta when tragedy struck Wednesday, Aug. 28 on a North Dakota highway.
Bourre was killed and Collins is in serious condition in a North Dakota hospital.
“Right now, my mom has a collapsed lung and she can’t travel anyway, but she’s had a surgery already along with so many bad injuries that the bill here will be huge," Drury told BarrieToday.
With no out-of-country medical insurance, Drury said she doesn’t yet know how expensive her mother’s hospital bill will be and is seeking help to cover the costs.
“They were just cutting through Montana on their way back, so they wouldn’t have thought to get insurance,” Drury added.
Drury got the call last Wednesday after her mom and stepdad were found on the side of a North Dakota road by passersby.
While she doesn’t think they’ll ever find out exactly what happened, Drury believes Bourre knew something was wrong.
“There is no autopsy being done on my stepdad and no one saw the accident, so we’ll never really know why they crashed,” Drury said. “But my mom said that he threw her from the bike just before it fell, so I really do think he knew something was about to happen.”
Collins can move her legs, but walking is too painful because of her broken ribs, which punctured her lung, as well as a number of other injuries, her daughter said.
But Drury says there's also the emotional side.
“Mom hasn’t accepted that the love of her life is gone and I really can’t imagine what she is going through,” Drury said. “She is stuck in a hospital so far away from home and she is in so much pain. Now she has to deal with my stepdad not being there with her after.
"The whole thing is really sad and I wish I could do more, but right now I can only be here with her," she added.
As of Monday night, a Facebook fundraising page called Tammys Medical Fundraiser had accumulated just over $19,000 of a targeted $40,000 goal.
Drury said she hopes to get her mom healthy enough to come home where the real healing can begin.
“I’m thankful for anyone has helped and, being that we’re from Barrie, it is really nice to see people from back home helping out,” she said. “Seeing her in her hospital bed is really hard, but I know this is just the beginning for her road of healing.”
To help Collins with her medical expenses, head to the Facebook page.
