Model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen donated $10,000 on Monday to a local Santa Clarita family’s GoFundMe in efforts to raise money for a family member to get a new prosthetic arm after a horrific crash in August.
The Duchow family — Hillary, Jared and Ryder — were driving home on State Route 126 after attending the Ventura County Fair in August. Suddenly, a car, driven by a 19-year-old falling in and out of sleep, collided into them head-on.
Hillary was able to kick her way out of the driver’s seat and began to assess the damages.
“She went around to the passenger side and realized that there was an ever-growing pool of blood outside of the car,” said the GoFundMe post. “Hillary realized that this was very bad, and she saw that Jared’s right arm was severely injured. She was wearing three layers of shirts. She used one shirt to tourniquet Jared’s arm and one to wrap around Ryder’s bleeding head.”
She began to try to flag down help in the darkness. One stranger came by and they together used his belt to stop Jared’s bleeding.
This one action saved Jared from bleeding to death.
With a hurt shoulder, Hillary flagged down more help to get her family out of the destroyed car after a 911 call.
“It took the Jaws of Life to remove Jared from the car,” said the GoFundMe. “Ryder’s car seat was so severely twisted that it clearly had saved his life. It was pretty much a miracle that this family survived the accident.”
Five-year-old Ryder spent three days in two different hospitals. Jared suffered from four broken ribs, a tear in his hip muscle and ultimately had to have his arm amputated above the elbow.
The Duchow family has suffered tremendously and this one crash has led to much financial stress, according to the GoFundMe. They had to purchase a new car, now have many medical bills to pay and their insurance does not cover a prosthetic arm for Jared.
“He is attempting to get one with a working hand and elbow,” said the GoFundMe.
Hillary’s mother Kathi Studden started the GoFundMe on behalf of the family with a goal of $100,000.
The GoFundMe, at the time of this publication, has raised $47,407. A large contribution to that was from Teigen’s donation of $10,000.
Those wishing to donate to the Duchow family’s cause can do so at bit.ly/3Wqao4C.
