Piano falls on 28-year old, paralyzes her from waist down

CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) - A 28-year-old woman is paralyzed from the waist down after a piano fell on her in April.

Danielle Drummond, who recently moved to Oregon from Cleveland, said it all happened when a friend asked for her help moving a piano.

As Drummond bent over to put something underneath the piano, she said the piano slipped and her friend lost leverage.

“She dropped like a whole upright grand piano on me, and it severed my spinal cord,” Drummond said. “Now, I’m paralyzed from the waist down.”

After emergency surgery, doctors told Drummond she would need to learn how to navigate being in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

“I’m trying to keep like in high spirits because I know this is my life now, but it’s hard. As of right now I need a lot more physical therapy. I need to rebuild my strength,” she said.

Drummond said her life-changing injury presents several challenges as she tries to move forward. She has no family in Oregon and needs to find a home health aide so she can live on her own. She also needs to find a permanent place to live.

WOIO asked Drummond if moving back to Cleveland to be closer to family is out of the question.

“I don’t even know like how I would get home, let alone like how to transfer all the medical stuff, and I don’t feel like I’m able right now to do like that far of a car ride or a trip in an airplane,” she said.

Drummond is very thankful to family members who have helped her register for some services and set up a GoFundMe to help cover medical costs and secure a place to live.

“I hope that people who are going through this don’t give up,” she said.

Drummond said she is trying to “stay hopeful” that will one day walk again.

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