Santa Barbara snowboarder André Barbieri, 30, is thankful to be alive, even if his March 11, 2011 crash at Mammoth Mountain resulted in the loss of his left leg, according to a story in The Santa Barbara Independent.
Barbieri suffered a compound fracture to his femur that severed his femoral artery, tore the nerves and veins in his leg, and he nearly died after losing a lot of blood. “It was just a leg, so I’m very lucky,” said Barbieri, who was not wearing a helmet during his accident.
As might not be surprising, Barbieri has no health insurance. So now the Brazilian is depending on “members of the Santa Barbara community” to help fund his rehab. If you have have health insurance then by all means click here to help Barbieri out. If not, then please take this message as a warning and spend your money on your own health insurance policy. Then when you get wrecked your friends won’t have to raise money for you.
[Link: Andrebarbieri.com via The Independent]
As a fellow amputee and a new friend of Andre I find this article very offensive. Your tone and attitude toward this situation is extremely negative.
Andre has been a part of the Santa Barbara Community for 4 years now. This very community took it upon themselves to help him. He never asked for any of it. His girlfriend said they had already started fundraising before he was even out of the hospital.
This should be a reflection on the American healthcare, not his “irresponsibility” (which you were very much insinuating). No other country has such expensive healthcare.
Even as a fully insured person myself, my family and I still had to fit the bill for a lot of the expenses that come with an unexpected surgery, rehab and not to mention a leg that cost at least 10 grand (and that is just the most basic of legs).
These great people of Santa Barbara took it upon themselves to help someone in the community who was in need. This article diminishes what they are doing and that is completely uncalled for.
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