A dream holiday in Germany last year turned the family’s life upside down as they face huge costs to bring Margarita home and adapt their house
Margarita Strazinska with her husband and three sons following her life-changing injury
A Dublin family had its life turned upside down during a dream skiing holiday in Germany after an accident that left the mother of three boys paralysed.
Margarita Strazinska suffered a catastrophic spinal injury on December 27 2025 when skiing with her sons and husband in the Allgäu mountains. It has left her paralysed due to the damage caused, and now her family are eager to get her back home to Ireland and begin to rebuild her life.
While preparing Margarita to return home to Ireland for further hospitalisation and rehab is a feat in itself, the cost and time it will take to adapt her Dublin 15 home is another. Her husband has been looking after their sons, aged 12, 13 and 17 since the injury and the family has only been reunited once since December.
Now, Margarita’s son Ellan has set up a GoFundMe to help with costs, with almost €7k raised by Wednesday night. The family faces thousands of euro of expenses to bring her home safely, adapting their home, purchasing specialist equipment, travelling to and from Germany to see her and Margarita’s continued rehabilitation.
Margarita Strazinska in hospital in Murnau Hospital in Germany
Margarita and her family hope to see her return to Ireland in the coming weeks, but they face an uphill battle. A wheelchair and adapted cushion will cost around €6k, with works to their home and specialist equipment expected to cost over €50k.
She told Dublin Live: “It’s all been hard to take in. I’m lucky I’m alive in one sense, I had a punctured lung, multiple fractures and spine injuries. The doctors are preparing for me to go home, but they have to make sure I’m stable before they can send me. That includes medications, blood pressure, temperature.
“I’m in hospital under European Health Insurance, but this is not a long-term hospital. It’s also not so cheap for my family to visit, there’s five of us and it’s up in the mountains so it’s busy. For them to visit for a few days costs around 4k.”
Margarita and her husband will need her return to Ireland before they can join waiting lists for support. They also face barriers to support due to their income and because Margarita’s injuries are recent.
She continued: “I need to be home in Ireland to even start applying for anything, like wheelchairs and support. I understand, as they need to be able to confirm my health status. But there are waiting lists for everything once I get back too. For hospital beds, for rehab spaces.
“As I worked last year, and my husband works we’re above income limits, we’re not entitled to grants and payments yet. I cannot live in the family home without it being adapted. The basic things needed for the home is an adapted bathroom, a lift for the stairs and the doors widened. A new bed. The prices we’ve received have been €15k for the bathroom, €10k for the stairs. I just don’t know how we’re going to deal with it all.”
You can find out more about Margarita’s story, and donate, at the GoFundMe page.
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