UPDATE: Firefighter responds to serious crash involving wife & son – Celebrities take up the cause
UPDATE
The plight of Aaron VanRiper and his family have touched a lot of people including one or two whose names you would know. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt visited VanRiper’s son Jonathan in the hospital. Watt’s father and uncle were firefighters in Wisconsin and it’s not unusual for Watt to help out firefighters.
Today (Thursday), The Washington Post’s Michael E. Miller reports a $15,000 donation came in on the GoFundMe page set up for the family from someone identifying themselves as Taylor Swift:
It’s unclear if the pop star actually gave the money. She didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the dramatic gesture wouldn’t be out of character for Swift. She spent time in Texas as a child and is a very charitable celebrity.
“Uhhh not sure if you saw this Aaron…,” wrote one family member on Facebook under a photo of the $15,000 donation. “Truly amazing.”
EARLIER
In Texas, a crash on Saturday in the 2600 block of FM 980 at Lakeland Road near Riverside left the wife and son of the assistant chief for the Thomas Lake Fire Department seriously injured. It was a call the chief responded to not knowing his family was involved.
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“It’s my family. My wife was laying there on the ground. (By) the look of the car, I don’t know how either one of them lived. There was nothing left of that car,” Aaron VanRiper, Assistant Chief for the Thomas Lake Fire Department.
Both his wife, Amber, and son, Jonathan were rushed by LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann hospital. Both have a number of fractures.
VanRiper says Amber endured 9 hours of surgery just Sunday to repair her pelvis, broken in five places. The family, however, does not have insurance.
Friends have created a site to help the family with medical expenses and to make up for the lack of income as Amber is out of work. For more on that you can go to their GoFundMe page.
