Woman Injured in Explosion at Red Lake Home Recovering

Shirley Corona (Courtesy: GoFundMe)

A victim who was severely injured in an explosion at a Red Lake house on October 4th is recovering, but she is in need of financial support after losing her home and for her medical expenses.

Shirley Corona suffered serious burns and several broken bones in the explosion that family members say was caused by a propane leak. She was trapped in the debris before help arrived.

Since then, Corona has been treated at Regions Hospital Burn Center in St. Paul for very serious injuries, but family members reported good news recently.

“It’s definitely a miracle,” said Elliot Mendoza, Corona’s son. “If nobody believed in these miracles, this is something where you could make somebody believe in miracles. This is a big sign from God, and she had a bunch of angels with her that day. 55 to 60% [of her body] burned, multiple fractures, and [she has] an amputated leg now, and almost being down to where, she’s already seven surgeries of skin grafting and stuff like that. Two months almost, almost healed all the way.”

Mendoza, who is a manager at Bemidji’s Applebees, has been living in a motel room in the Twin Cities while Corona has been in the hospital. She may soon be transferred to a therapy hospital, but Mendoza says she still has a long way to go and that medical expenses have been overwhelming.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up because of those expenses and because Corona lost her home. The family is trying to help secure temporary accomodations while they figure out how to rebuild her life from scratch.

The fundraiser has a goal of $10,000 and was set up on November 17th. As of late Thursday night, it had nine donations and has raised $535. If you’d like to help, you can make a donation here.