HOUSTON — A benefit for Rachelle Cooper will be held Sunday, July 16, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Houston Community Center, 5005 Russia Houston Road, Houston.

A spaghetti dinner will be served. Advance tickets are $8 and tickets at the door will be $10. Entertainment will be provided by Sound Surge Pro DJ Services.

In addition to the spaghetti supper, a raffle for a 2008 Volkswagen Convertible Bug will be held. There will also be a 50.50 drawing, cake wheel and auction items. T-shirts and bracelets will be available for purchase.

Cooper, a Sidney High School graduate and a student at Edison Community College, was going to a car show with her boyfriend and friends in two separate cars on April 29, 2017. It had been raining hard that morning, and due to standing water, her friend’s vehicle hydroplaned and was struck by a small truck on Interstate 75. The crash caused both vehicles to spin around and they ended up facing north in the southbound lanes of traffic against the guard rail.

Cooper and her boyfriend, Cody Joyce, were concerned for their friends and got out of their car to check on them. Cooper opened the door to hug her friend. As she was comforting her friend, another vehicle lost control and headed straight for her friend’s car.

As people yelled for everyone to get out of the way, Cooper was unable to move and the vehicle struck the door of her friend’s vehicle. Cooper’s legs were trapped by the door and second vehicle. Cooper’s friend opened the door and discovered extensive damage had been done to her legs.

Dayton Police Department officers arrived on the scene and one officer applied a tourniquet to Cooper’s legs. Because of the officer’s quick and clear thinking in a critical situation, they saved Cooper’s life. She was transported to Miami Valley Hospital. While being transported to the hospital, she was told she would lose her left leg.

After multiple surgeries, the doctors were unable to save her right leg and it had to be amputated as well. Cooper will require multiple prosthetics and months of intensive rehabilitation to learn to walk again.

Cooper is employed by Menards.

If anyone would like to donate an item for the raffle, contact Rosalee Cooper, benefit coordinator, at 937-570-5741 or [email protected].

All funds raised at the benefit will assist with Cooper’s medical expenses.