Taylor Swift opens her purse for a family in need after devastating car crash

Los Angeles - Taylor Swift has donated $15k to a family that has been left devastated by a horrific car crash.

The Bad Blood hitmaker gifted the huge sum to the VanRiper family's fundraising page on the website GoFundMe after hearing that volunteer firefighter Aaron VanRiper had to fight to save the lives of his own family after responding to a 911 call about a head-on car collision.

Aaron was called to the scene in Riverside, Texas on the weekend when the car in which his wife Amber VanRiper and son Jonathan 'Bear' were travelling crashed into a pickup truck.

He said: "My wife was laying there on the ground. The look of the car, I don't know how either one of them lived. There was nothing left of that car."

Despite being freed from the vehicle by her husband, Amber remains in critical condition after undergoing nine hours of surgery on her pelvis, which was broken in five places according to Houston and Southeast Texas' KTRK News.

Aaron's son Jonathan, seven, also had to have surgery after the crash left him with a broken arm and leg.

The extent of their injuries will reportedly leave them both in wheelchairs.

Meanwhile, a friend of the VanRiper family, Mandy Kibby, set up the fundraising page on 7 June asking for donations to help with the "excessive medical bills and lack of funds that will come in over the next year".

Aaron - who is the assistant chief for the Thomas Lake Road Volunteer Fire Department - will now have to care for his wife and child but insists he isn't looking for handouts.

He said: 'I don't want anything for free. I don't expect anything. If people are willing to donate, that's awesome."

Family member Mar VanRiper shared the news of Taylor's donation to Aaron's page alongside the message: "Uhhh not sure if you saw this Aaron...truly amazing. (sic)"

The page has so far raised an amazing R1.2 m of it's R1.5 target after receiving donations from over 2000 people in the past four days.