Michelle Hurst, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-born actress who plays Miss Claudette on the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” recovered from a medically induced coma 16 days after a car accident left her with severe injuries.
According to her cast mates, Hurst was in a serious car accident and doctors had to keep her sedated to prevent the actress from moving and to proceed with several surgeries.
“She had major injuries so the doctors put her in a medically induced coma to avoid movement while they did multiple surgeries near her spine,” a post on the fundraising website, youcaring.com, said.
Ever since she was admitted to the hospital, a page was created for her on the website to help the actress raise money for her medical bills.
The website was one of the first sources to announce Hurst’s improving condition this morning, while also updating fans on the amount of money they had been able to raise so far.
“She is out of the coma (after 16 days) and has opened her eyes,” a new update on the site read while also revealing that they had raised over $9,000 by Thursday night.
As of Friday morning, the website has collected an additional $3,000 with donations steadily pouring in.
Hurst’s cast mates took to their own social media accounts to ask their own followers and Hurst’s fans to continue donating as much as they could.
“Hi all, please consider making a donation to help support Michelle Hurst (aka Ms. Claudette) who was in a bad car…,” Matt McGorry tweeted before the social media site cut off his message.
At the end of the tweet McGorry included a link for his followers that would take them to the donation page.
Actress Natasha Lyonne retweeted the link as well and added, “Please give what you can to help Michelle Hurst – the amazing actress who plays Ms. Claudette.”
According to the page, the fundraising goal was only $5,000 but fans have obviously been willing to continue giving as Hurst prepares to embark on her road to recovery.
The page also said that Hurst is still in the intensive care unit at UNC Chapel Hill Hospital.
In addition to paying for medical bills, the money will go to Hurst’s sister who has taken time off work to care for the “Orange is the New Black” actress.
