Cawse Family
Julia Cawse
On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, at 7:00 am, the driver of an SUV struck the bike 24-year-old Julia Cawse rode at 80 km/h. She was in the bike lane, using bike lights and wearing her helmet.
This university graduate who had just started working defied the odds. She survived. However, this tragic accident has left her with brain damage causing some cognitive impairment, no mobility in her legs, and minimal mobility in her arms.
The injuries she suffered included:
- two skull fractures
- brain hemorrhaging
- two arterial dissections resulting in multiple strokes
- broken ribs
- broken collar bone
- fractured bone fragments in her cheeks,
- punctured lung
- liver damage
- broken femur
- broken jaw in two places
Medical Journey
Her medical journey started in St. Michael’s Hospital ICU. She was unconscious for nine weeks.
The settlement from her own insurer and the driver’s insurer will not even come close to covering her medical, rehabilitation and attendant care needs in the future.
Julia was then transferred to the Trauma and Neurosurgery inpatient unit. For the next five months, she began her journey to recovery and rehabilitation.
From there, Julia was transferred to Toronto Rehabilitation Institute for several months. Now she is an outpatient at Toronto Rehab-Lyndhurst Centre.
Julia is nearing the completion of her final outpatient rehabilitation. She'll go home to live with her family for the first time in over a year.
However, this brings new challenges and a lifetime of rehabilitation.
A wheelchair necessitates renovations to make her family’s home accessible. It includes installing ramps, expanding a bathroom, roll-in shower, etc. These renovations are expensive.
Cawse Family
Julia Cawse
As it is, Julia does not have basic autonomy, such as taking care of her personal needs, bathing herself, or even itching her nose. Helping her is a full-time job. It requires personal support workers and expensive specialized equipment.
Insufficient Insurance
Julia and her parents have been professionally advised that the financial settlement from her and the driver’s insurers will not even come close to covering her future medical, rehabilitation and attendant care needs.
How can you help
You can support Julia Cawse by contributing to her GoFundMe Campaign: Julia's Rehabilitation Support Fund (now closed).
The funds will be used to assist her during the decades of rehabilitation that lie ahead for her.
More about Julia Cawse
She grew up in Downtown Oakville and went to elementary, middle, and high school in Oakville. She recently graduated from Ryerson’s Early Childhood Studies program.
Julia relied on her bike as a mode of transportation and continued to do so after graduating from Ryerson. She was a cautious and confident rider.
At the time of the accident, she loved working as a live-in nanny for a Toronto family. Her endless positive energy, enthusiasm, sense of humour and love for life was infectious.
Whether she was crafting with kids or having an impromptu dance party in the living room with her friends, she was always putting smiles on people's faces.
If you were to ask what three words best describe Julia, they are vibrant, passionate and fierce.
Her ferocity made her a survivor of one of the worst car accidents involving a cyclist in 2018, and now a fighter against the adversity she faces.
Oct. 4, 2018, turned Julia’s life upside down and marked the beginning of a very long road ahead for Julia both physically and psychologically. The accident also drastically changed Julia’s (and her parents') life from every perspective.
