DeKALB – While a Waterman woman remains in critical condition in a Rockford hospital, donations to her family are pouring in via a GoFundMe page set up after a two-vehicle crash Wednesday on Peace Road.
Rachel Jimenez, a single mother of three and a Tails Humane society volunteer, was driving her son to another foster family's home when the head-on crash happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to an email from Michelle Groeper, executive director at Tails. She said Jimenez's son, Isaac, has had surgery and will be fine, whereas Rachel faces many surgeries and a long road to recovery.
In about a 24-hour span, donations on the page more than doubled from $1,800 to nearly $4,000 as of Friday morning. The page is rapidly approaching its goal of $5,000.
According to the GoFundMe page, Jimenez suffered many broken bones, damage to her colon and a back fracture. Staff at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford said about 11 a.m. Friday that she's still in critical condition. The page states her son, Isaac, suffered a broken collarbone and damage to his colon and was taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital.
The crash occurred on Peace south of Pleasant Street, near DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport, at 4:48 p.m., police said. Peace was closed for more than an hour between Lincoln Highway and Pleasant as police and firefighters responded to the wreck. The road reopened at 6:02 p.m., police said.
DeKalb police Sgt. Jim Haacker said Wednesday a black Mustang was northbound on Peace in the right lane when the driver attempted to pass another vehicle. Haacker said the driver lost control of his vehicle as it moved into the left lane and skidded into southbound traffic. The vehicle collided head-on with a white Toyota, driven by Jimenez.
Her daughter, Joslyn, said this has been an extremely tough time for her family.
"We want people to be aware of what happened and just get the message out to slow down on the road," Joslyn said.
All three people involved in the crash were taken to Kishwaukee Hospital, from which Jimenez was flown to Rockford.