Orange Is The New Black star Michelle Hurst wakes from 16-day medically-induced coma after serious car accident

Orange Is The New Black star Michelle Hurst has woken from a medically induced coma after suffering a serious car accident.
The actress, who plays prison inmate Miss Claudette on the Netflix prison series, was injured in the crash before Christmas, according to TheWrap.com. She is being treated in the intensive care unit at UNC Chapel Hill Hospital in North Carolina and woke on Thursday after being placed in a coma for 16 days so doctors could perform surgeries near her spine, report the website. 

 

In treatment: Michelle Hurst, pictured last December, has woken from her coma after a car accident

Piper Kerman, who wrote the book on which the show is based, retweeted a link to a fundraising page which hopes to help cover Michelle's medical expenses and lost
income from time off work.
'Michelle, AKA "Miss Claudette" RT @TeamOITNB: Please RT Michelle Hurst was in a bad car accident & she needs our help,' she wrote alongside the post. 
Cast member Natasha Lyonne, who plays inmate Nicky Nichols in the show, also retweeted the link, writing: 'Please give what you can to help Michelle Hurst - the amazing actress who plays Ms Claudette on OITNB.'
Donations are to be handled by Michelle's sister, according to the site, which had already raised over $4,000.
One update on the site reads: 'Michelle is the ICU. We can't send flowers or visit, only family.  She is progressing slowly, but progressing!  She is out of the medically induced coma & is responsive.'

The Netflix show which debuted last July, is based on Kerman's memoir: Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison.

It stars Taylor Schilling as a bisexual inmate who is sentenced to 15 months in a women's federal prison for transporting a suitcase full of drug money to her drug smuggling ex-girlfriend Alex (Laura Prepon).

Although Netflix do not have to release viewing figures, the show is said to have generated more viewers and hours in its first week than the streaming service's other original series - House of Cards and Arrested Development.

Inside: Miss Claudette, played by Michelle, was sent to prison for running an illegal immigration and child-labor cleaning service

Fundraising page: Friends and fans of the star have already come near raising the $5,000 total

Miss Claudette was sent to prison for running an illegal immigration and child-labour cleaning service.

'What actually drew me in was not so much the character, but the idea of doing something in a prison,' Michelle told CableTv.com last August. 'It’s one of my little phobias. It’s like “Oh my God, no.”

'That being said, as an actor you are also told to go towards the things that you fear, so that was in the back of my head. If I am going to do this, it’s going to be a new adventure for me.

Tweet show of support: Orange Is The New Black creator Piper Kerman tweeted the link to the fund-raising page for Michelle on Thursday

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Retweet: Cast member Natasha Lyonne posted a plea to her followers to help Michelle

'On the first day, I didn’t know that much about Miss Claudette. The turn around on this was so quick, there was no real time. But Jenji Kohan (the show’s executive producer) was there and she gave me some background on who this character is and how she has come to be.
'She has been through a lot, she doesn’t even believe in hope. She is just surviving in there. She has learned how to survive. She doesn’t have “friends” in this environment, but she just keeps going. Once I knew that, I knew it would be interesting for me.'
The second season of the show is set to air this year.

Stars of the show: Some of the Orange Is The New Black cast including Taylor Schilling (centre) as Piper Chapman