Taylor Swift Fan Loses Both Legs and Soulmate in Car Accident. What Swifties Do Next Makes Her Burst Into Tears (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Six years ago, lifelong Swiftie Brandi Hutchinson was involved in a car accident, leading to her soulmate’s death and causing her to need both legs amputated

• After years of struggling to afford a wheelchair van, which she needs to be able to easily leave her home, she connected with two Taylor Swift fans who amplified her story on their podcast

• “I obviously cried like a baby because I’m very emotional,” says Hutchinson of their generosity in an interview with PEOPLE

Things were working out for Taylor Swift superfan Brandi Hutchinson.

She had a job she loved — working in a men’s recovery home for people experiencing addiction — and she was dating Skyler, who she believed to be her soulmate.

It was early June, and the pair decided to take a road trip, driving from Ozark, Mo., down to Chattanooga, Tenn. But little did Hutchinson know that as she was leaving her home, she wouldn’t return for over four months, and when she did, her partner would no longer be by her side.

During the trip, she tells PEOPLE, they were caught in a severe rainstorm — causing their vehicle to hydroplane and ultimately roll over four times. When she finally woke up in the hospital two days later, doctors told her that she had suffered a complete spinal cord injury.

Skyler had been put into a medically induced coma as soon as first responders reached the scene of the crash, and he was quickly determined to be brain-dead.

She and his parents decided to “let him go,” she says. And Hutchinson started the long road to recovery, one that she admits she is still on, even six years later.

First, it was rehab for her final cord injury. After several successive sepsis diagnoses, she was placed on antibiotics for life. Then doctors diagnosed her with osteomyelitis, a bone infection that she was told was “too deep to cure.” And she’s had countless procedures, including a double above-the-knee amputation.

It was 145 days before she finally returned home in Ozark.

But things were not the same. On top of the unimaginable death of Skyler, she had lost much of her mobility — including her ability to travel to her old workplace or move around its inaccessible building. Her mom, who was in her 60s, moved back in to become her full-time caretaker. And though she bought a used wheelchair van for $1,500, its 20-year-old parts quickly needed to be replaced, accruing thousands more in mechanic fees just for her to be able to easily leave her house.

“It seems like there’s constantly something new,” Hutchinson, now 33, tells PEOPLE. “It’s so overwhelming sometimes that I don’t know how to process it.”

Then entered sisters Lauren and Meredith Redding into her story. The Swifties, ages 33 and 41, respectively, are both therapists and hosts of TheraSwifts, a weekly podcast where they interview a Taylor Swift fan about how the Grammy winner’s music helped them heal during a tough time in their lives. After reading Brandi’s account in their submission form, they knew they had to bring her on.

“I was stunned by the bad luck she had had,” Meredith tells PEOPLE. “It was just one thing after the other.”

Even being selected to come onto the show felt like a blessing for Hutchinson: “I’m one of those people who perpetually never wins anything,” she says. “And then I got the email and I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ ”

During the podcast episode, which they recorded in July and released on Aug. 20, Hutchinson recounted her harrowing story. She described how her disability continues to impact her life, and particularly how her wheelchair van — which has been nonoperational for several months — has prevented her from being able to find employment because it is so difficult to leave the house with her wheelchair.

Even when she would start to pinch pennies to save for a new vehicle, Hutchinson says, a more pressing financial need like paying her rent would drain her savings, making the $50,000 she would need to buy a new van feel more and more out of reach.

As soon as they finished recording the episode, recalls Lauren, she and her sister got on the phone and burst into tears over how touching they had found Hutchinson’s story. And they knew they couldn’t just put the podcast out into the world without doing something more.

“Brandi was so lovely and articulate and really helped even me think more about disability rights,” says Meredith. “It was like, ‘Man, if this person was able to have literally and metaphorically more mobility, she would be such an amazing advocate in more ways too. And also she just deserves a living raise.’ ”

Adds Lauren: “We were like, ‘We’re getting her a van.’ ”

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Once they got Hutchinson’s OK, they threw together an infographic with a brief paragraph about her story and her need for funds to afford a new wheelchair van, calling on the community to donate to her Venmo account. They also reached out to a network of former guests — some of whom have thousands of followers — to get the word out.

“I obviously cried like a baby because I’m very emotional,” says Hutchinson of her reaction when she learned Lauren and Meredith’s plans to raise money for her cause. “Just being able to film the podcast felt like I had made these new friends and I had gotten this beautiful opportunity that I never expected.”

Continues Hutchinson: “For them to want to keep going was just so moving because, from what I’ve experienced the last six years, it’s rare to come across like good people. So when you do, it’s just so overwhelming.”

The donations started rolling in, totaling over $1,100 since they made the post in August. And many of them were in increments of 13 — a nod to Swift’s lucky number — and hand heart emoji, referencing the on-stage symbol Swift would make during the Eras Tour and throughout her career.

“I already love [Swift] so much and it just adds to it when you see that there’s nothing like the Swiftie community,” says Hutchinson.

While Hutchinson acknowledges that she still has a long way to go before she can afford to buy a new vehicle, she says that she’s remained adamant that she has to tell her story as widely as possible on behalf of the entire disabled community — and that nothing is going to stop her.

“I’m in the middle of small-town Missouri,” she tells PEOPLE. “But these are the moments when I’m like, ‘This is me being as loud as I can be about disability.’ ”

Read the original article on People