A 19-year-old Oxford woman who was severely injured in a Dec. 31 wrong-way crash is receiving an outpouring of financial support and well wishes from friends, family and strangers through a crowdfunding webpage.

As of Jan. 10, a total of $6,190 had been raised through the GoFundMe.com website to help pay medical bills and other expenses for Samantha “Sammy” Calhoun and her family.

The goal is to raise $10,000.

“It’s very overwhelming and humbling to realize how many people, even people that don’t know her, are helping,” said Domonique Call, an Oxford resident and friend of the family who initiated the fund-raising effort on Jan. 5. “It’s amazing.”

Ninety-six people have contributed.

Calhoun, a 2015 Oxford High School graduate, was severely injured in a crash on M-24, near Oakwood Rd., in Oxford. Calhoun was driving a 2003 Dodge Durango in the northbound lanes when a southbound 2006 Chevrolet Impala, driven by a 28-year-old Sandusky, Michigan woman, smashed into her, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Calhoun’s Durango flipped onto its side and caught fire.

Calhoun was unconscious and trapped inside the burning sport utility vehicle.

She was rescued by a trio of Good Samaritans – David Walatkiewicz, a 2014 OHS graduate; Dr. John Ditchman, an emergency room doctor for McLaren Lapeer Region hospital; and Brandon McDaniel, a 2013 OHS graduate.

A knife had to be used to free Calhoun from her seat belt. As the flames were burning her legs, she was pulled out of the vehicle and lowered to the ground to safety.

Walatkiewicz, 21, of Oxford, was on his way to a friend’s house when he happened upon the crash scene and decided to stop. When he realized what the situation was, he said, “I knew I had to help her.”

As the flames were spreading, Walatkiewicz thought to himself, “If we don’t get her out now, she’s going to die.”

Walatkiewicz said he couldn’t have lived with himself if he had just stood there and watched Calhoun’s life end.

“It just didn’t seem right. I would hope that someone would help me if I was in that (situation),” he said.

“That night, I didn’t even sleep,” Walatkiewicz noted. “I kept replaying it in my head, what could have happened.”

McDaniel, 22, of Brandon Township, said he was heading home from work and had to maneuver out of the Impala’s path as it headed the wrong way down M-24. He remembers seeing the headlights “coming right towards me.”

McDaniel witnessed the devastating crash. He could have kept going, but he decided to stop and lend a hand.

“It just seemed like the right thing to do,” McDaniel said. “I went back and helped. Didn’t really think about it, just did it.”

Ditchman did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Sheriff’s investigators believe alcohol use by the Sandusky woman was a factor in the crash. Investigators are still awaiting blood test results. The Sandusky woman had her two children, ages 5 and 7, with her in the vehicle.

Calhoun, the daughter of Matt and Amy Calhoun, is still being treated at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Her road to recovery is expected to be a long one.

According to sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Sanford, a member of the Crash Reconstruction Unit, the Sandusky woman and her two children are still recovering at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. He had no information regarding their current conditions.

Call said she’s known the Calhoun family for years as their boys played Oxford Jr. Wildcat football and wrestled together.

“I’ve watched (Sammy) grow up and become a lovely young woman,” Call said. “She’s got a heart of gold. She would do anything for anybody. She’s very kind and insightful and very funny. She finds the good in everybody.”

Calhoun has been working at the Oxford location of Achatz Handmade Pie Co. with Call’s mother and son.

“Our families are intertwined,” Call said.

As can be expected, Calhoun’s family is committed to staying by her side during her recovery.

“Her mom has no plans to leave the hospital before Sammy does,” Call said. “They’re in it for the long haul.”

Because the Calhouns are “not ones to reach out for help,” Call decided to be “proactive” and start a GoFundMe page.

“I’m sure when they finally do bring her home, they’re going to need some financial help,” she said. “I thought I’d get a start on it.”

Call noted prayers are “the only thing” the Calhoun family has requested at this point. “Please keep praying for Sammy and her family,” she said. “They are feeling the power of the prayers that are out there.”