As you all may have heard, on the night of 5th August Tom (Moomin) was very sadly hit by a car in Reigate. It was an extremely unfortunate accident that appears to have been the ‘wrong place at the wrong time’ and could have happened to anyone. The Police investigations are ongoing.

Tom suffered a fractured skull, a brain contusion (bruising of brain tissue), a bleed on the brain and a severe femur fracture. He was sedated for 3 days during which time he had a big operation on his leg to have a plate inserted.

He sustained bruising on the brain however thankfully this is showing good signs of improvement, very slowly but surely. Although Tom is awake and out of ICU he is still in the Neuro recovery ward at St George’s where he will be for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately due to the complex nature of brain injury, at this stage no one has been able to give the answers we need such as whether he will make a full recovery or a time frames at this stage so only time will tell.

Tom is going to need a minimum of months to undergo a lot of rehabilitation such as speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. It is only the beginning of what is going to be an extremely long, uncertain and bumpy road.

Tom is very lucky to have such an amazing fiancé Nichola by his side and the most beautiful little boy Ted, who is 14 months old. They are an inspirational family, whose kindness, strength and love is a breath of fresh air in this this current world. Tom has always worked extremely hard to provide for his family and Nichola works just as hard caring for their little boy.

As you may know, Tom was a self-employed Plumber and as a result he is not entitled to any statutory sick pay however one thing we do know is that Tom will not be able to return to work for the foreseeable future as a result of his injuries and Nichola will be required to stay at home and care for him.

A number of people have shown a big interest in wanting to start a collection for them, not as a ‘charity case’ but so they have something to smile about after this hell of a journey. It is a get-well present that they can use to buy whatever they chose to or whatever is necessary, or even to put towards their wedding fund after these months of hell, just a lot simpler than everyone putting money in a card.

As we all know, they are an extremely loved family and so many people wanted to help but there is only so much we can all do so I have started this collection for this reason and anyway, we were intending to finish off in Reigate that evening so I know Tom saved a number of us from spending stupid amounts of money on beers and Jager bombs :)

Due to the sensitive and unsettling nature of this time I there are a couple of IMPORTANT things which I hope you can kindly bear in mind:

We had to make Nichola aware that a few people wanted to do a collection so that this did not shock her at a time that is so unsettling as we all know they are not the type of people who would expect/ want to accept anything from anyone. I would, however, ask that for the time being no one discusses this or mentions this to her (or to Tom ) as we will reveal it to them when the time is right. You are welcome to pass this on to friends and family but please make sure that this is not posted publically!!

Those who were not aware of the accident, I am sorry you found out this way however please ensure that for the time being you are careful not to overwhelm the family with messages. They have had a group card signed by a number of you and are aware that so many people are thinking of them.

We were hoping that you would be able to make your donation amounts anonymous to avoid the making the family feeling uncomfortable but I understand people are having problems with doing so. If you are unable to then it is not a problem as I can print the messages out and delete the amount by hand if necessary but please feel free to leave messages with your name.

I hope you understand why we are having to be precautious and careful and thank you all for being such amazing friends and supports. If you would like updates on how Tom is doing then please contact me (Rio).

#TeamTom