Lauren Perry and Jenny Vu.Photo: GoFundMe
Lauren Perry and Jenny Vu are still on their road to recovery after being seriously injured on what was supposed to be a happy birthday trip.
The Oklahoma couple and their Irish Setter named Ivan — who did not suffer any injuries — recently decided to travel to Washington State to celebrate Perry’s 24th birthday, according to NBC affiliateKFOR.
During their beach day, Perry and Vu “stopped for a moment” at an area a few feet away from the shore line to take some pictures and videos, according to aGoFundMeset up to help cover their medical expenses.
However, things took a sudden turn when Perry turned around just in time “to see ahuge wave comingtheir way,” per the GoFundMe. “The girls tried to get away in time, but it was too late.”
Reflecting on what was going through her mind during the scary moment, Perry told KFOR that she wanted to help Vu to safety.
“I had time to say, ‘Go Jenny … run!’ " Perry recalled. “I tried to push her forward just as it crashed.”
Lauren Perry and Jenny Vu.GoFundMe
“All I remember is just water covering my entire body, and I told myself to close my eyes and hold my breath,” Vu told KFOR. “And so when I did, a giant tree hit me, and I blacked out.”
“I kept screaming out, ‘Is Jenny alive? Is Jenny okay?'” she told Fox affiliateKOKH.
Things then took another turn for the couple.
After being rushed to Forks Hospital, where “doctors and nurses did everything they could to stabilize” them, the couple were sent off to a second hospital in an ambulance, according to the GoFundMe.
Halfway through the trip, “the ambulance blew a tire…and crashed into a tree,” per the fundraising campaign. “Lauren and Jenny were not fully strapped down correctly to the gurneys and were flung around during the accident.”
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Upon arriving at the second hospital, Vu learned that she had 10 “fractured ribs, lacerations on her liver, internal bleeding, pulmonary contusion, a broken pelvis, and a concussion,” per the GoFundMe.
Meanwhile, Perry suffered from “internal bleeding, lacerations on her liver, a broken pelvis, and [a] pulmonary contusion.”
Both needed pelvis surgery.
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Although Perry and Vu have since been released from the hospital, they still have a long road to recovery in front of them.
Due to their injuries, the pair have also been unable to return to work at Tinker Air Force Base, per the GoFundMe.
The couple says the entire process has been incredibly difficult.
“It’s been hard. We’re 24, and we’ve had our home we built. We had our dogs. We had our careers we were starting,” Perry told ABC affiliateKOCO. “We worked so hard to get where we were at, and it’s like we don’t even get to be there and enjoy it.”
“It’s still unreal to me,” added Vu. “I feel like it’s all a dream, [and] any moment we will wake up from this.”
Those interested in donating to their GoFundMe can do sohere.
source: people.com
