Help For Ashley Moser: Online Fundraiser Started For Paralyzed Mother Of 6-Year-Old Killed In Colorado Shooting

Ashley Moser was not having a particularly good year, even before the attack at a Friday midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., left her paralyzed and her 6-year-old daughter dead.

The pregnant mother had just lost her father after a 10-month battle with leukemia that left her financially devastated and the tight-knit family crushed. Though the 25-year-old mother had “struggled,” relatives said, she was able to straighten her life around and was taking classes to become a nurse.

Now a Reddit user has started an online campaign to raise money for Ashley Moser in her recovery. Channeling the popularity of the fundraiser for bullied bus monitor Karen Klein–and using the same Indiegogo site–the user set up a goal of raising $20,000 within 45 days. The fundraiser was off to a fast start, drawing in more than $1,500 in a little more than an hour. Donations were coming in at a rate of more than $10 per minute.

Ashley Moser will likely need the help. As the New York Daily News reported, she was in an out of consciousness for the days following the shooting. When she had stabilized enough, her mother joined a doctor and hospital chaplain in breaking the news that her daughter Veronica was killed in the shooting.

Veronica was a bubbly 6-year-old full of life, her grandaunt Annie Dalton told the New York Daily News. She was looking forward to starting the first grade at Holly Ridge Elementary School in Denver, Dalton said. Veronica loved going to school and dressing up, and was proud to tell her family how she had learned to swim during the summer.

“She was a great little girl, excited about life,” she said. “She should be at 6 years old.”

Her family members said Ashley Moser was crushed at the news of her daughter’s death and shouted, “I want to die.” But Ashley Moser has showed that she is a fighter. She is awake and recovering, and her unborn child is apparently all right even though Moser was shot in the stomach, NBCNews.com reported.

But even if she stabilizes physically, Ashley Moser faces a tough road ahead. She was unemployed and living off of her student loan, and will face even more financial stress with upcoming bills and her daughter’s funeral, Dalton told NBCNews.com.