BELLEFONTE — Once again, the Bellefonte community has rallied around one of its own.
On May 21, Bellefonte Area High School graduate and current Penn State student Haley Popovitch suffered severe third-degree burns on 50% to 60% of her body when she accidentally fell into a fire pit. She was LifeFlighted to the Lehigh Valley Burn Center for skin grafts and surgeries.
One of her close friends, Amber Corl, was devastated by the news.
“I’m very close with Haley and her family,” Corl said. “I woke up that morning to some text messages. … I heard that she’d been burned and was being LifeFlighted. I was like ‘what is happening?’ I’m still not exactly sure what happened.”
Corl wanted to do something for Haley and her family, so she created a GoFundMe to help with the hospital stays, surgeries, travel and miscellaneous expenses.
The GoFundMe took off.
In less than 24 hours, the account was over $15,000.
“I was expecting support, but I wasn’t expecting it that quickly. We met the original goal of $15,000 before it had even been up for 24 hours,” Corl said.
Corl then increased the goal to $25,000. As of Thursday afternoon, it had raised $29,505 from 360 donations. She has since raised the goal to $35,000.
Corl said since she’s not allowed to visit Haley, the GoFundMe was her way of being connected.
“It has really helped me. To be able to do something little like this, it means a lot to me,” Corl said.
The medical bills for burn victims can be astronomical. Corl said she did some research about costs before setting up the GoFundMe.
“I was looking it up because I didn’t know what to set the initial goal at. For severe burn victims — even without complications — can be close to a million dollars,” Corl said.
Popovitch has already undergone multiple surgeries and is expected to be under sedation for one to two months, according to posts on her Caring Bridge page. Her stay in the burn center and rehabilitation is expected to last several months.
Corl is hoping she can visit her friend in the next month or so.
“I hope so, but she’s at a very high risk for infection right now,” Corl said.
According to Corl, she and Amber have been friends since their preschool days.
“I met Haley in preschool. We both went to the same church preschool group. We continued to be friends throughout elementary and middle school. The summer before senior year, we got very, very close. We had four classes right back-to-back with each other, so we were used to spending hours on end with each other,” Corl said. “I’ve been very close with her and her family.”
To contribute to the GoFundMe, visit gofundme.com/f/haley-popovitch.
