Fundraiser for Leeds woman knocked off her motorbike reaches target in 40 minutes
A Leeds woman has been overwhelmed by support shown to her by the biking community, thanks to a crowdfunding campaign.
Tattoo artist, Chris Hatton, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise £1,000 for his girlfriend, Sami Graystone, who suffered several injuries during a motorbike accident last week.
Almost £5,000 has been donated in the three days since, to help the freelance artist get back on her feet.
Sami Grayston, 31, of Roundhay, was on her way to work at her art studio on Thursday when a car knocked her off her Kawasaki Z750 bike on Burley Road, Leeds. During the accident the self-employed artist and illustrator flipped over the car and landed in the road.
Sami suffered a fractured skull, a shattered pelvis which seprataed from her spine and several injuries which require skin grafts to her arms and knees.
The biker was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary and underwent her first of several surgeries on Friday afternoon.
Sami’s boyfriend, Chris Hatton 34, from Cardiff, launched a GoFundMe page the day of the accident, to help cover Sami’s living costs while she will be out of work.
He said: “Sami won’t be earning any money for some time and so I sat down and worked out that her monthly outgoings are around £1,000 and set the target at that. I wanted to raise enough to pay for her bills, food and expenses.”
In just 40 minutes the £1,000 target had been reached as the biking world came together to support Sami.
“Bikers realise that it could be them in hospital so they always rally round to help an injured biker. It’s absolutely unreal and I can’t thank everyone who has donated enough.”
In the first 24 hours since launching the campaign the campaign target sat at £4,000 and is now just shy of £5,000 as the community, family and friends continue to show their support for Sami.