Durban – Janine Francis, the 21-year-old woman who survived the 41-vehicle mass accident on the N3 outside Pietermaritzburg on Easter Monday, has a long road of recovery ahead of her and to assist a Pretoria-based artist is raffling one of her pieces to raise funds to assist her.
The multi-vehicle crash claimed the lives of Francis’s parents Michelle and Ralph Francis as well as her brother Matthew. The family had been returning to their Newcastle home on Easter Monday.
On Thursday IOL reported that Francis, who was studying to be a teacher, underwent a life-saving operation that required having her legs amputated.
According to the report, there was an appeal from businesses and the general community to donate towards treatment and therapy. The Janine Francis Trust was set up and Newcastle attorney Neven Singh confirmed that an account had been set up.
Speaking to ‘The Mercury’ on Sunday, Danielle Wales, who is the owner of ‘Art of Dani’, said when she arrived back home to Pretoria from an Easter getaway, she found out about the accident on social media.
“I felt revived and relaxed only to scroll on Facebook and come across the horrific accident in Hilton. I was heartbroken because no one gets in a car on their way to or from a holiday expecting to die or lose everything,” she said.
Wales said earlier this week she came across a post by one of Francis’s family members pleading with the public to assist by donating towards her recovery.
“I could not look away and do nothing. I am an ink artist based in Centurion and I may not make the most money but what I create with my art has value. So I decided to raffle off one of my art pieces and share the initiative on all the platforms possible to raise awareness and support Janine,” she said.
The artist hopes to fly down to KZN to meet Francis in person. “I want this journey to be one of Love and genuine care, not just about doing a good deed.”
The A2 sized drawing being raffled is of an elephant, which is part of Wales’s art collection for an exhibition this year.
Each raffle ticket costs R100 and Wales hopes to reach a target R100 000 by May 20, 2023, when the winner will be announced.
