Kathleen Brust barely survived the motorcycle crash that killed her fiancé last Saturday outside Sycamore, and now family and friends are raising money to help her family as she begins a long recovery.

Brust, a 29-year-old mother of two, was riding on a motorcycle driven by Nathan Pasholk, 32. They had attended a friend’s wedding in Michigan the night before, and were just a few miles from their home in Kingston when their bike collided around 5 p.m. with a truck in the 8800 block of Old State Road outside Sycamore, police said.

On Thursday, Brust was scheduled to have surgery on one of her legs at OSF St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Rockford. That’s where she was flown after the crash, having sustained a litany of injuries including broken bones in her legs, knee, pelvis, vertebrae, ribs, skull and jaw, said her younger brother, Jonathon Brust.

Kathleen’s lungs were punctured, her pancreas was bruised, and she suffered internal bleeding in areas including her brain.

“When she got to the hospital, she was airlifted there, and doctors basically said she was in the worst possible condition she could be and still be alive,” Jonathon Brust said.

Kathleen Brust lived in Genoa with her family for several years beginning in 1999, and is a 2005 graduate of Genoa-Kingston High School, he said.

She has two sons, Aiden Shott, 10, and Presley Pasholk, who will be 1 in the coming days, Jonathon Brust said. Presley is Pasholk’s biological son, Jonathon Brust said. Pasholk also had a son, Harrison, from a previous relationship, he said.

Brust had been the office manager at DeKalb Dental Group the past seven years, and she and Pasholk were planning to be married in March 2017, according to the GoFundMe campaign page.

The campaign had raised more than $9,949 as of Friday evening and should only gather steam.

Brust is expected to be hospitalized at least for six months, her brother said. He said doctors are optimistic she will make a recovery, although she can communicate only by moving her hands and feet, and does not know all that has happened, he said.

“[On Wednesday] the nurse asked if she can move her hand, and then she moved her hand, so she’s able to listen and hear and follow commands,” Jonathon Brust said. “… The biggest concern right now is brain injury and making sure that she’s able to move things, function properly and hear, things like that. She’s scheduled to have surgery on her leg and jaw.”

Brust has health insurance, but the family is expected to incur many expenses including for child care. Pasholk’s funeral is scheduled for next week, Jonathon Brust said.

In their news release last Saturday, police said no one had been charged in connection with the crash, which also involved a 17-year-old DeKalb girl. There has been no change since then, police said Thursday.