Taylor Swift is lending her support to a Connecticut mother who nearly died while helping a group of teenagers after their vehicle hydroplaned and careened off the roadway during an intense rainstorm last month.
The musical superstar donated $50,000 to a GoFundMe page collecting money to support the recovery of Ashley Taunton, a 42-year-old certified nursing assistant who was seriously injured as she carried out a random act of kindness. Taunton had been driving in Rhode Island with her young daughter when she spotted a group of people apparently experiencing car trouble stopped alongside I-95 South.
“When I see there’s somebody in trouble, I tend to want to go help,” she told People.
Taunton pulled over, parking around 30 yards from the stranded vehicle up ahead. As she spoke with the driver and two passengers, all of them teens, another passing vehicle hydroplaned and hurtled directly toward Taunton. She was able to push a nearby teen out of the way before she was struck.
“It just felt like a big explosion,” Taunton recalled. “I just remember being on the ground and I could see my ankle was just hanging there. I went to try to get up and I couldn’t breathe.”
Taunton was later hospitalized and treated for several life-threatening injuries, including bilateral internal carotid artery dissection, liver and spleen lacerations, multiple rib fractures and a ruptured diaphragm, People reported. She said recovery, including physical therapy, could take up to 12 months.
“Wishing you the best recovery possible and sending love to your family!” Swift wrote in a comment on the GoFundMe page, which has now raked in more than $75,000.
The funds will go toward medical expenses not covered by insurance, daily household bills and expenses, and gas and travel costs for commuting back and forth to the hospital, as well as groceries for Taunton’s three children.