Rose (Jack’s Mummy) and I felt it would be best to give everyone a quick update on Jack and his fundraising.
Firstly, the whole of Team Hendo would like to say a huge THANK YOU to each and every person who has donated, shared, and emailed over the last 5½ days. Without you, Jack’s idea would never have been such a stupendous success.
Since our last update on Thursday night Jack has appeared on STV, BBC Scotland and this morning appeared on BBC 1 Breakfast and is still running hourly on BBC News 24. Added to that an article in the Scottish Sun and the Glasgow Herald, we also had the most amazing social networking response that I have seen in my professional career as a Web Superhero. The velocity at which Jack’s website was shared on Facebook, Linkedin and especially Twitter has been nothing short of incredible.
As a result of this, Rose and I have spent the majority of our time over the last 3 days answering emails, dealing with the press (BBC Scotland turned up on our door unannounced) but most importantly ensuring Jack is not over worked or made to do something he doesn’t want to. We don’t want to be responsible for killing his love of drawing.
We are also working hard to ensure that Toby (our middle monkey who is 3) doesn’t feel left out and is part of this experience as much as his brothers. We were very disappointed to see that The Sun edited Toby out of the photograph AND the story all together without prior consent from us.
Last but not least, the catalyst for all this, Noah, who has spent the last 24 hours (ironically on the verge of being admitted to the Sick Kids). His breathing was very laboured, his temperature high and he has been unable to sleep. We all had very little sleep last night!
So, given all of this–and us being a normal family (Daddy working, Mummy raising the kids and running her own wee business), trying to raise 3 young children while working and sheer overwhelming response and requests, please bear with us.
We will reply to every email and every text / tweet as soon as we can. If we miss one out, don’t be mad, just let us know. Our initial estimate of 3 days to get a picture onto the website is no longer anywhere near valid and we are looking at ways to keep everyone happy and the fun continuing.
This morning alone, our donations total went up £3000 from £2000 to well over £5000 and at one point I was getting 3 emails a minute. Last count, 306 donations = 306 drawings, raised £5,295.34. So far Jack has done 23 drawings. Please remember he is only 6, goes to school, needs his sleep and needs to do wee boy things. He and all of us are doing our best.
Jack’s Dad (formerly known as Ed)