Photo: GoFundMe
A fundraiser has been launched to support the medical expenses facing Victor Bernardo and Johnni Bufkin Bernardo after a near-fatal car crash in Southern California. The accident occurred on August 17, with Brazilian freesurfer Victor Bernardo being airlifted from the scene of the collision and his wife, Johnni, being taken to the ICU by ambulance. Both have now spent a full week in the hospital and endured emergency surgeries to stabilize their condition, and now, a long road to recovery is expected for both.
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support the incoming mountain of expenses with a target of $500,000. The campaign reached just under $60,000 of that goal in its first 24 hours.
“They will both be out of work for an unknown amount of time, with the absolute earliest return date being roughly six months to a year out,” the GoFundMe page says. “They will need additional surgeries in the coming months, and while we don’t know the exact details yet, we are expecting an immense amount of procedures, medications and rehabilitation for the foreseeable future.”
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Victor’s manager, Mike Townsend, told The Inertia that his main injuries are a fractured right leg and knee damage on his left. Johnni, meanwhile, suffered fractures to her face and internal bleeding, which required multiple surgeries. For now, doctors are looking into Victor’s left knee for potential future procedures, while future surgeries aren’t planned for Johnni. He noted that doctors are positive about progress for both of them.
“I just know they both have an immense amount of gratitude towards their friends and family and our surf community. The amount of people stepping in to help is just incredible,” Townsend said via text message. “Nobody plans for these types of life-changing events to happen, so everyone’s guidance who (has) gone through these types of events calling or coming in to help has been heartwarming, to say the least.”
Learning that doctors are positive about recovery is positive news after a scary few days. Specifically, one doctor told Townsend, “Let’s put this guy back in the water,” before Victor went into surgery Wednesday night.
