Rhanniel Baldago, an international student at Okanagan College, was struck by an SUV while crossing a road in Kelowna's Rutland community. The incident left her with serious injuries, including broken ribs, facial stitches, and dental damage. She is currently recovering at home thanks to generous donations and support from ICBC.
Rhanniel Baldago continues to recover at home after she was struck by an SUV in a crosswalk in Kelowna's Rutland community. Baldago, an international student at Okanagan College, was walking to catch a city bus after a job interview on January 7 just before 5:30 p.m. According to Baldago's friend Krizhia Saddam, Baldago is certain she hit the button to activate the flashing lights at the crosswalk at Rutland Road North and Mugford Road before stepping out.
The next thing she remembers is waking up in pain with paramedics around her. \'She saw a lot of blood and she really thought she was going to die, that's what she said,' Saddam told Black Press Media. Baldago was taken to hospital where she spent the following days, including her birthday on January 9, with nine broken ribs, stitches to her face, and lost and damaged teeth. Saddam said her friend was able to go home on January 15 and is getting by thanks to donations made to her GoFundMe and support from ICBC. 'ICBC has been in contact with her. They are helping her with everything she needed in the recovery and they made sure her house is set up in a way that she can move around,' Saddam added that Baldago is currently using a walker to get around. The online fundraiser is helping ease the worries of costs, such as rent and groceries. \'I am also an immigrant here and my husband is also an international student. We know how it feels going to a foreign country where you don't have any family,' Saddam said. Baldago travelled from her home in the Philippines to study in B.C. Saddam said her friend doesn't have family nearby, but Baldago has become like an aunt to her kids. 'When this happened to her we were very much worried about how she's going to survive. She wants to study. She likes what she's doing here, marketing and data analytics, and she wanted to finish that. We told her to take a leave of absence, but she doesn't want to. So, right now she's still studying and to ease that burden in all that, because obviously, she can't work in her condition... we did the GoFundMe to enable her to continue with her studies and remove that burden of how she's going to support herself while she's here.' Saddam describes Baldago as a'happy pill' and is trying not to let the circumstances get her down. Donations are still coming in for Baldago with the fundraiser above 70 per cent of its $18,000 goal
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