Peter's still in China and sent me this email to me.
As for the total amount of donated money, I received approximately $400 from people, mostly from the first few weeks before the "dribbled in" orders, which did not hear of Thomas' plight. Oh well.
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Hi Eric!
Can you post this to rsf: (I have really limited computer time available, and emailing is the best use of that time.) I will be away a few days before the 12th, so I can not check Eurosport airing times for a few days. Checked 10 minutes ago, only schedules until the 1th were posted now. Can you check their website and email the results to me, just in case something happens?
---WC 2002 Eurosport taping---
Hi rsf friends!
I sent 2 snailmails for help with taping, and here is an excerpt from the answer by one of them:
---
Dear Peter
The mailsystem in China is obviously not the fastest one... But your letter
got through the iron wall (or the great wall?). I will certainly tape the
fencing world championships, but I will not hear of any compensation. Any of
that sort will be donated to Thomas' medical expenses.
----
As you notice, the snailmail pace is the reasonable answer as to why my fencing friend has not answered - he has seen nothing to answer.
As for my nonfencing friend (we are old choir buddies, he high tenor, I low bass) he has a soft spot in his heart for my 2 boys, and has helped my older one before. When I told of the pass-the-hat for my young one (Thomas) on rsf, he was deeply touched and impressed by the rsf community.
This has been postponend for too long time, but here comes. I can not tell you how much I and my wife were surprised, and gladdened, by the pass-the-hat on rsf. Surprised, since it would not happen here in Sweden, and gladdened since taking care of our kid is tiring and I have worried since day one about how his childhood and adolesence will be. Getting a baby with doublesided total lip,jaw and palate cleft (go to <a href="http://www.widesmiles.org" target="_blank">www.widesmiles.org</a> if you want an explanation to that), hyperteleorism (very large distance between the eyes - look a childhood pictures of Oprah Winfrey, and then some) and wall-eyedness is quite a shock. Any supporting words, or help is well liked by parents in our situation. Help from people than one has never met is quite something, and we are greatly thankful.
Eric pointed out that Sweden has a socialized medical system, but the money will certainly come in handy anyway. It seems that everytime we contact the hospital, some entitlement has been scaled down, and since Thomas will have numerous hospital visits for the next 20 years no one knows what will be the situation when he is older. He will need at least one really big dental job, and that is an area especially targeted by cuts by Swedish politicians.
Luckily, things have been looking up for Thomas the last half-year or so. He recuperated from his 3rd large facial plastic surgery (seven or so operations to go) unusually fast, we found out that the quite large cranial operation needed to fix his eye-distance could be postponed until he is 23 or so, (or is he is really lucky, he will outgrow the problem) and his wall-eyedness seems to have gotten much better on its own. Next operation (due in a few months) will make it possible for him to start talking (he is 22 months now). Luckily there is nothing wrong with his head - he can point or fetch appropriately when questioned if he is in that mood (both in Swedish and in Chinese). One time recently, he sat in his babychair, seeing me and his older brother "fencing" very slowly with chopsticks at home. He wanted to get into the act, and I let him. Lo and behold - he soon figured out that sabre parry quinte is the correct answer to a cut to the head - without any prompting from me! Swells the heart of father, even if he is an epeeist! ;-)
Hope you bear with me for posting all this off-topic stuff, but a father in my shoes feels the need to vent.
Again, thanks. with this donation, you have to me proven yourselves to be true men and women of the sword - all for one. By continuing to tape, I will do my best to fullfill my part - one for all.
I have also contacted my parents, who have agreed to tape what they can, providing their work schedule. They ask for nothing else than reimbursement for the raw tape costs. They work at an university, and the WC coincide with the time when all the extra tests (for students who have failed 1st time) are to be made, held, and graded. Therefore, they have a very tight schedule, and can not watch the TV to account for Eurosport's unsure airing times. My nonfencing friend works at a company that buys raw grains from farmers and turns it into flour and hogfeed by the truckload, and since the WC coincide with the harvest time he will be working 12hour days, and will also have to hope that the taping goes well without checking the TV. Thus the need for two batches of raw tape.
Have a nice time!
Peter Gustafsson
Linear Mode
