Sarah Burke's Family Stuck with $550,000 Hospital Bill

The freestyle skiing legend's husband, mother, and father band together to raise donations.

The death of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, 29, has robbed the sporting world of one of its true trailblazers – and it also left her husband and family with a $550,000 hospital bill. Burke spent nine days in a Utah hospital following her crash during a training run for an event sponsored by Monster, an energy drink company. She passed away yesterday afternoon due to severe brain damage, as an artery had been cut, preventing the flow of oxygen to her brain. When she died, her husband, skier Rory Bushfield, was stuck with more than half a million dollars to pay back to the hospital. Because the event Burke was preparing for was not sanctioned by the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, all insurance coverage would have had to have been handled by either Monster or Burke herself. With no evidence showing that she was covered, her family has set up a website for donations to help them pay down the astronomical bill. You can go to giveforward.com/sarahburke to make a donation. Since going live yesterday, the site has raised some $68,000 for the family.