Woman, 28, is paralyzed after being crushed by a piano in a freak accident

Danielle Drummond, 28, outside in a wheelchair. Ms Drummond was left paralysed from the waist down after she was accidentally crushed by a grand piano

An Ohio woman, Danielle Drummond, 28, was left paralyzed from the waist down after a grand piano fell on her, severing her spine while she was helping a friend move it in Eugene, Oregon.

Drummond had recently relocated to Eugene and agreed to assist a friend with moving the piano. During the move, the piano slipped from her friend's hands and severely injured Drummond, crushing her spine.

“She dropped like a whole upright grand piano on me, and it severed my spinal cord,” Drummond told 19NEWS in Cleveland. “Now, I’m paralyzed from the waist down.”

Having just moved to Oregon, Drummond has no family in the area and was still searching for a permanent residence at the time of the accident. She had been living in a van with her dog, Lotus, before the incident.

Her family in Cleveland has launched a fund raising campaign to cover her future medical needs and to potentially move her back home. Drummond expressed uncertainty about the logistics of such a move, given her current condition.

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

Drummond's sister, Rosie Hayne, shared on the fundraiser page that Drummond has accepted the reality of her situation but maintains a positive outlook. “She has an amazing spirit and focuses on what she can do,” Hayne wrote.

Despite her acceptance, Drummond acknowledges the difficulty of her new reality. “I’m trying to keep in high spirits because I know this is my life now, but it’s hard,” she told 19NEWS. “I need a lot more physical therapy. I need to rebuild my strength.”

Drummond's T11 and T12 vertebrae were fractured by the piano, her sister revealed. In addition to physical therapy, she will likely need a home health aide, which can be costly.

On May 1, Hayne provided an update on Drummond's condition, noting that she was "getting around really well in the hospital wheelchair" but still needed to find a permanent place to live after her hospital stay.

Drummond remains hopeful that advances in medicine might one day allow her to walk again.