A fundraising event is being held on Sunday to help cover the medical costs of a Parklands North woman who was paralysed in a car accident in February.

Photographer Lucy Thomas, 25, was paralysed from the waist down when her Volkswagen Polo plummeted about 100m down the side of Chapman’s Peak Drive around 6pm on Thursday February 17. The car burst into flames, and set the surrounding vegetation on fire.

Fifty rescue personnel worked for four hours before they freed Ms Thomas from the wreck.

She had sustained severe spinal damage, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. On Monday February 21 she underwent an initial seven-hour operation to stabilise her spine as well as an ankle operation. Then, on Sunday March 13, she had to have another spinal operation after she developed an infection in the area. The following Tuesday morning she was back in theatre to further clean and flush the spinal area.

Ms Thomas is being treated at Groote Schuur Hospital.

Lucy Thomas (25) with her father David Thomas (58)

Her father David Thomas, 58, said Lucy was expected to be in hospital for another two months before going to a rehabilitation centre “for another few months where she will be educated how to live with her disability of living in a wheelchair”.

“A Lucy Thomas NPO Foundation will be registered shortly to assist Lucy with her monthly medical costs and also to assist other young ladies with spinal cord injuries to re-establish their lives and independence,” he said.

A BackaBuddy campaign, which has been set up to help cover the ongoing medical costs as well as to prepare her home to be wheelchair-friendly, has raised just under R100 000.

This weekend’s fund-raiser is an 80s-themed live music show at the Barnyard Theatre at Tyger Valley Centre on Sunday April 3. Tickets are R175 each, of which R85 goes towards Lucy’s campaign.

To contribute, go to https://www.backabuddy.co.za/lucy-thomas or for more information on how you can help, call David Thomas on 084 628 4000.

Phumlisa Vers

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