Rebecca was in her early 30s when her life changed in an instant, after a catastrophic car accident that shattered her face. Rebecca grew up in Los Gatos but had been living and working in Uganda for almost ten years. That’s where she met her husband, Eric, and where they were creating a life with their one-year-old daughter. Rebecca and Eric had founded a nonprofit to give women and girls in Uganda the opportunity to earn a living and build skills to take care of themselves and their families. Both were working to improve access to healthcare for these young women in East Africa.
When the car accident happened, everyone else was fine but Rebecca sustained severe injuries. They came up against the stark realities of a healthcare system that was not equipped to provide high-level trauma care. With her husband to advocate for her, Rebecca’s condition stabilized, and she returned to California for medical consultation. That’s when they discovered exactly how many bones were broken in Rebecca’s face and the extensive treatments she would need, to have any hope of healing properly.
Rebecca and Eric came to us for an interest-free health care loan during this period. They and their daughter were staying with Rebecca’s parents in the South Bay, and she was in the midst of a full year of surgeries to repair and rebuild her face. For a long time, the doctors couldn’t tell Rebecca exactly how much improvement in her appearance to expect, but she hoped to get to a place where people didn’t stare at her when she walked into a room.
Finances were difficult, as the couple’s income was much less than it had been. Eric was working remotely, and Rebecca was on temporary disability. They were accumulating thousands of dollars of bills for uncovered medical expenses. This growing debt made an already difficult time even more stressful.
Our loan allowed Rebecca and Eric to pay off all their medical debt and focus on healing, caring for their daughter, and maintaining stability. The loan also improved their credit score to the point where they could imagine buying a home, once Rebecca made it through her surgeries and could work again.
“If you had asked me five years ago what our life would look like now, I could never have imagined. We had lost everything, had nothing. And then we jumped so far, so fast. Getting the Hebrew Free Loan to pay off our medical debt totally changed our lives. We’re forever grateful.”
Rebecca and Eric didn’t end up going back to Africa. After the trauma they’d been through, staying in the U.S. and being closer to family felt like the right choice. They’re both still engaged in global humanitarian work: Rebecca works at the Institute for Sustainable Communities, and Eric works for CARE International, but they do it from their home base in the States. Their daughter is seven now, and they’ve built a new life for themselves — different from the one they imagined before the accident, but just as fulfilling.
In 2023, Rebecca was featured in an episode of the podcast, All the Wiser, where she talks about everything she’s been through and her long road to healing, both physically and emotionally. The podcast producer made a charitable donation on Rebecca’s behalf to Hebrew Free Loan, earning Rebecca and Eric membership in our Full Circle Club for paying forward the help they received. Click here to listen to Rebecca’s story on your favorite podcast platform.
