A fundraiser will be held Saturday to help a Jefferson County woman who was making progress in her recovery from a drug addiction when her life was drastically altered by a vehicle accident.
Victoria Williams, 30, of Arnold suffered some paralysis following a crash on Aug. 17 in St. Joseph. She was four months pregnant at the time, and the injuries from the accident made an abortion necessary, her mother, Cathie Schnieders, said.
Williams was living in the Kansas City area before she pleaded guilty to a drug charge that landed her in jail for a short time before she moved into a recovery home in St. Joseph. After the accident, she returned to the St. Louis area and was in a rehabilitation program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital but because she had no medical insurance, she had to leave the program and move in with her mother in Arnold, Schnieders said.
The Meramec-Arnold Elks will hold a fundraising event on Saturday for Victoria Williams, who was paralyzed in August in a vehicle accident, to help her cover the cost for her treatment, physical therapy and needed medical equipment.
“This has been a lifechanging experience for everybody, especially my daughter,” Schnieders said. “She is 30 years old and went to a place to make her life better, and that was taken away. It has been physically, mentally and emotionally horrible.”
Schnieders said the family is working with a lawyer to get Social Security disability assistance, and Williams is trying to qualify for Medicaid insurance.
Schnieders also said her daughter was insured through Medicaid’s pregnancy program, but she has not been able to switch to the traditional Medicaid plan since the accident.
“I feel frustrated, sad and hopeless,” Williams said.
As of Jan. 2, Williams’ medical bills totaled about $2.3 million, Schnieders said.
The Meramec-Arnold Elks Lodge, 1515 Miller Road, in Imperial will hold a New Year’s Pasta Dinner Celebration on Saturday to raise funds for Williams. Doors will open at 5 p.m., and the event begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $40 in advance and $45 the night of the event and includes the pasta dinner and 10 games of bingo. The first nine games will award a prize of $250 for each winner, and the final game’s prize is $500.
A lottery ticket board and gift-card board will be raffled off, and other raffles will be held throughout the evening. A 50/50 drawing will be included.
For information or tickets, call 636-464-8960.
“I hope it will help with medical bills and help pay for some physical therapy,” said Williams, whose sister, Tara Schnieders, started a GoFundMe page following the accident. As of Jan. 2, it had raised $1,120.
“It is pretty awesome (for people to donate to the GoFundMe page). The type of people I was around before, they were people who would take from you and wouldn’t give. To receive support from people who don’t even know me is pretty awesome, I am thankful.”
The accident
Williams said she moved into the Sisters of Solace sober living center for women in St. Joseph, on July 23 after spending a few weeks in jail following a drug conviction.
As part of her plea agreement, Williams was released from jail to enter the two-year recovery program, Schnieders said.
Williams said she was addicted to fentanyl and methamphetamine for about four years, and even though she had entered recovery programs before, her move to the Sisters of Solace home was the first time she was committed to her rehabilitating.
“I tried going to rehab, but I was never doing it for me,” said Williams, who has children who are 11 and 3 years old. “When I was in jail, that was the first time I was ready to change my life. They helped get me clean in jail. When I got out, I wanted to be there for my kids and myself. I was doing well.
“Then, the accident happened.”
Williams said she worked at the Sisters of Solace coffee shop while she was in rehab, and another woman at the house had picked her up from work on Aug. 17 to drive her and another woman back to the recovery home.
Williams said the driver was texting and swerved to avoid hitting another vehicle.
“She overcorrected to avoid hitting a car,” said Williams, who was in the backseat of the vehicle. “The van flipped and slid into a pole. I was the only one who got hurt.”
Schnieders said her daughter was rushed to a Kansas City-area hospital for treatment and underwent surgery and then was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis, where she had a pacemaker implanted.
Schnieders said her daughter was at St. Luke’s for about two months before transferring to Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s rehabilitation clinic. However, Williams had to leave the clinic in November because she did not have insurance to cover the cost of her stay.
“We are in trouble with medical bills,” Schnieders said.
Recovering
After leaving the rehab clinic, Williams moved in with her mom, and Schnieders and Williams’ boyfriend, Matthew Murphy, have provided care and helped with Williams’ physical therapy since November.
“We are taking care of her,” Schnieders said. “If it wasn’t for her boyfriend, we would be up a creek. He is basically her nurse.”
Williams said she had to have an abortion about two months after the accident and went to a clinic in the Chicago area because of Missouri’s restrictive abortion laws at the time.
“That was really bad,” Williams said. “The baby wasn’t going to make it. When I went to Chicago, she was only 2 pounds. I was going to have her on Jan. 29. I have been pretty depressed. It is one thing after another.”
Williams said she has limited movement in her left arm, and she can take a few steps. However, she has not had professional physical therapy since leaving Barnes-Jewish.
“We do leg stretches,” she said of working with Murphy. “I tried to take some walks. I can walk with some help, but I can only go a couple of steps. Getting physical therapy would be lifechanging for me.”
Schnieders said money raised at the Elks event will be used to cover medical bills, purchase medical equipment and pay for physical therapy. The family already received a wheelchair and electric wheelchair through donations.
However, Schnieders said the most important thing for her Williams is to get into a physical therapy program.
“She should have been in therapy two or three times a week,” Schnieders said. “We are trying to get her to physical therapy in Arnold, but we will probably have to pay out of pocket for it.”
Williams said along with those who donated through GoFundMe, she is grateful for the support of her family and boyfriend.
“If it wasn’t for them, I would be at a home or something,” she said. “When I was at the rehab, I noticed a lot of people didn’t have family members with them like me. I can’t imagine what they were going through.”