MORE than £11,000 has been raised in 12 hours for a Swindon dad left with life-changing injuries after he suffered an electrical shock while working on scaffolding last week.
Jamie Mines was five meters up on the scaffolding in Galton Way last Monday when the accident happened, seeing crews from Swindon, Stratton and Chippenham attend to rescue the dad-of-two.
Jamie was rushed to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma but despite doctor’s best efforts, the 33-year-old had to have one leg amputated along with one hand. He has also lost all the toes on his other foot and he remains in a critical but stable condition as attempts are made to wake him up.
In the last week and over the Christmas period, Jamie’s friends and family have rallied together to create a Go Fund Me page to help raise vital funds aimed at supporting his recovery but also his five month old twin baby girls Isabella and Savannah.
It is understood the 33-year-old only moved to Swindon a year ago from his hometown Frome where many of his childhood friends still live.
The page, which was created by close friend Ian Kennedy, has seen hundreds of people pledge their support so far – a reaction that Ian said he never expected to happen so fast.
The 32-year-old said: “I have known Jamie for years as we’ve played football together. He is such a good guy and people known him around Frome but I didn’t expect the money to be raised as fast as this. It is just crazy that the donations are being made from people that didn’t even know him.
“It came as a shock to everyone that it had happened and over Christmas doctors didn’t know how severe his injuries were but then had to amputate his leg and hand to save his life. The doctor said if he wasn’t so fit, he probably would have died.”
“Although there are big donations coming through, it doesn’t feel a lot compared to what Jamie is going through although all the money will help him and his family.
“Things like this definitely puts life in perspective especially as it happened just days before Christmas.”
Ian added that it was a group of Jamie’s friends who came up with the idea to start a fundraising page as many felt compelled to do something to help.
“The idea for the page came about in a WhatsApp group between a few of us who have known Jamie for a while and we were discussing doing something for him to raise money which is when we thought setting up a page would give people the chance to donate,” he said.
“I’ve had so many messages from organisations and companies wanting to help and a lot of people are now talking about doing larger fundraisers for him so the support has been brilliant.
“The amount of shares the fundraising page has had on Facebook is just amazing and shows the power of social media.”
To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/raising-money-for-jamie-mines
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