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Canfield native fighting for life in Montana
A 1991 Canfield High School graduate and bicycle-safety advocate is fighting for her life in a Montana hospital after being hit by a car on a cross-country ride.
Shelli Snyder, 43, who grew up in the Mahoning Valley and recently lived in Cleveland, is in a medically induced coma at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, according to friends.
A GoFundMe page set up to raise money for medical expenses says Snyder was struck from behind by a vehicle going 60 mph, fracturing her skull and injuring her arm, leg and hip.
Sgt. David Baggs, with the Montana State Highway Patrol post in Kalispell, said the accident happened about 4:30 p.m. Sunday on U.S. Route 2, a rural road near West Glacier, just outside Glacier National Park.
He confirmed the driver remained at the scene but said the accident is under investigation.
Jacob VanSickle, a friend and executive director of Bike Cleveland, said the coma was induced to relieve brain swelling, and that Snyder is on a ventilator. As of late Wednesday, she was in critical but stable condition, he said.
“She’s a pretty comfortable, confident cyclist,” ,” he said. “It’s hard for me to believe she would have done anything wrong.”
Snyder is a founding member of Bike Cleveland, a nonprofit advocacy group that’s worked since 2011 to promote bicycling and making roads safer for cyclists.
She worked as a systems administrator for Case Western Reserve University but was moving to Seattle to be with her boyfriend. She left in July and was raising money along the way for Bike Cleveland.
She documented her journey on Facebook, her last post appearing a few hours before the accident while stopped at a farmers market.
On Saturday, she shared a post about two Ohio men who died in a cycling accident with the hashtag, “#notonemore.”
VanSickle said he thinks she was headed to Canada and back to the states for more sightseeing. She had been camping and meeting people along the way who housed her, he said.
“She has a lot of enthusiasm and zest for getting people out there on bikes,” he said, explaining she means a lot to the Bike Cleveland family.
Doctors in Montana are in contact with neurosurgeons in Cleveland, with the intent to fly her there once she is stable enough.
She has insurance, but she will have out-of-pocket costs. A medical flight to Cleveland will cost about $30,000, according to the post.
The GoFundMe account was set up Monday and by Wednesday night, nearly $38,000 had been raised. To contribute, go to https://www.gofundme.com/2ptgcefw.