Aid pours in for woman injured in Croatia

So far $38,000 has been raised to get her home

Family and friends of Anna Leibenko had raised $38,000 to help the stranded 24-year-old by Wednesday.

The Thornhill resident had been travelling in Europe with friends and was due to return this week.

But on Aug. 17, the former Argo cheerleader slipped and fell on a catamaran in the Adriatic Sea, hitting her head on the boat and nearly drowning after she fell into the water. Her condition remains critical. She has been in a medically induced coma in a Croatian hospital, her friends and mother by her side.

Making the situation worse was that she had no travel insurance. The cost to fly her home by air ambulance was originally quoted at $93,000, although her brother, Artem Leibenko, says now “there might be a company who can do it a bit cheaper.”

Artem, 26, is organizing a trust fund and medical transport for his sister — but the family faces a bill that is a “big lump sum of money” growing larger “every day she is in the hospital,” he said.

Leibenko will remain in the ICU in Split, Croatia, until her condition stabilizes, which could be seven to 10 days, according to a website set up for donations. In Croatia, Leibenko’s friend Karina Vottchal said Wednesday she remains in the “same condition” and doctors are waiting to do more tests.

People wishing to donate may visit the website: help-anna-leibenko.org.