It is a month since I started the Go Fund Me for Tommy, and, although contributions have continued to come in periodically, I think we are pretty much at the end of the line now. So the 'final' total (it needn't _be__ absolutely final, the fund will remain open and if anyone else still wishes to contribute, we'd all be very grateful) is that we received 346 contributions worth $78,589.
I was in California last week for the GCSAA show and spent several days with Tommy. He is still physically fairly weak, but I'm happy to report that his vital spirit is wholly unbowed by what he has been through in the past three months. He remains, at his core, the Emperor he has always been.
I have sent personal messages of thanks to the contributors, but I wanted to use this bully pulpit to say to every single person who contributed how grateful I am for their help. When I started the fund, I agonised for a while about what initial target to set -- I wanted to be ambitious, but not overreaching, and so I chose $8,000. The website resets the target to a new, higher one automatically when you approach the existing one, and it has done so quite a lot in this case. I am awed at the power and good nature of this community. When one of our own was troubled, we came together and did something really great.
Thank you to everyone, from the bottom of my heart.
Adam