After Slipping Into a Coma, Friends are Trying to Bring West Bloomfield Grad Home

A West Bloomfield High School graduate living in Los Angeles is currently in a coma after accidentally eating peanuts. And now, her friends and family are trying to bring the Michigan native back home.

Chantel Giacalone, 27, slipped in a peanut-induced coma after ordering ice cream in Las Vegas on Feb. 20, family members told Fox 2 News on Friday. She is still being treated in intensive care. 

Giacalone does not have health insurance and so her friends have started raising money to pay for her health bills and bring her home.

"Thank you again all for all of the support and prayers for Chantel," the last post at the Chantel Giacalone Fund Facebook page, posted on March 12, reads. "Her vitals are all good but she is still in a coma. We continue to keep her in our heart and hope she can come home soon."

The group, created at the end of February, already has 1,228 likes. 

"I have several friends from high school and college that have never met or heard of Chantel and yet they donate because they see the love that so many people feel for her," Roger Kirnos writes on the page. "It's incredible to see the support that her close ones and even strangers have offered." 

According to IMDB.com, Giacalone appeared in her first production in 2005. She appeared in The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations in 2009 and most recently, One Night Alone in 2012.

To continue raising money for Giacalone's homecoming, her friends and family will be holding a fundraiser at The Bosco in Ferndale at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bosco is located at 22930 Woodward Ave.

"Beyond a sister, daughter, granddaugher and friends, Chantel is an ambitious, hard working, beautiful girl who needs our help," the flyer reads. 

Tickets to fundraiser start at $75 for a single ticket. Four tickets to the VIP booth are $700 while corporate prices go up to $5,000 for a group of 15. Buy tickets at www.onelovechantel.eventbrite.com.