Let's Get A Guitar For Tom
Donation protected
Trauma warning: describing Tom’s accident involves descriptions of what happened and his medical needs. Take care of yourself if this could be triggering.
On 23rd of May, 2012, Thomas Rutherford was nearly killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver in Buffalo, Missouri. The other driver died in the crash. Life Flight carried Tom to Springfield, Missouri, where they discovered head trauma, lung damage, a lacerated liver, ruptured small intestine, most of the ribs on his left side broken, and a broken left femur. Tom was in a coma for 13 days and then another 10 days medically induced coma to monitor the bleeding and swelling. During this time, Tom says: “I didn’t even know that I was in this world.”
Also ruined in the accident were Tom’s two guitars. Because there was a fatality, initially, no one was allowed to rescue any possessions from his vehicle. There wouldn’t have been much to rescue anyway.
The frontal lobes of his brain were lacerated in the crash, so the brain hemorrhage left a lot for him to learn over. This has had no effect on his wish to continue playing guitar. As you can imagine, Tom is on limited income with the injuries he sustained and continues to deal with daily. So, he visits a local guitar shop and they are happy to let him have some guitar time. But that's not the same as having your own guitar. (Ask any guitarist and you'll find this is true.)
One of Tom’s dreams is to have a Blueridge BR-40 dreadnought acoustic guitar. Would you please help to make his dream come true? Please give to help us get this guitar for Tom. Thank you.
As soon as the goal is reached, this “shopping cart” will be delivered to Tom. It will be so wonderful to know that he is playing his own guitar again.
(I have no relationship to Tom other than this: we befriended each other on Twitter where he shared his story with me. My heart was touched and I want to help him reach this dream. Thanks for considering helping, too.)
On 23rd of May, 2012, Thomas Rutherford was nearly killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver in Buffalo, Missouri. The other driver died in the crash. Life Flight carried Tom to Springfield, Missouri, where they discovered head trauma, lung damage, a lacerated liver, ruptured small intestine, most of the ribs on his left side broken, and a broken left femur. Tom was in a coma for 13 days and then another 10 days medically induced coma to monitor the bleeding and swelling. During this time, Tom says: “I didn’t even know that I was in this world.”
Also ruined in the accident were Tom’s two guitars. Because there was a fatality, initially, no one was allowed to rescue any possessions from his vehicle. There wouldn’t have been much to rescue anyway.
The frontal lobes of his brain were lacerated in the crash, so the brain hemorrhage left a lot for him to learn over. This has had no effect on his wish to continue playing guitar. As you can imagine, Tom is on limited income with the injuries he sustained and continues to deal with daily. So, he visits a local guitar shop and they are happy to let him have some guitar time. But that's not the same as having your own guitar. (Ask any guitarist and you'll find this is true.)
One of Tom’s dreams is to have a Blueridge BR-40 dreadnought acoustic guitar. Would you please help to make his dream come true? Please give to help us get this guitar for Tom. Thank you.
As soon as the goal is reached, this “shopping cart” will be delivered to Tom. It will be so wonderful to know that he is playing his own guitar again.
(I have no relationship to Tom other than this: we befriended each other on Twitter where he shared his story with me. My heart was touched and I want to help him reach this dream. Thanks for considering helping, too.)
Organizer
Stan Stewart
Organizer
Ithaca, NY
