As you may have seen over the weekend, tattoo artist Ran MacLurkin was in an accident last week which has put him in the hospital. He was riding his motorcycle on the way home from work Tuesday night when he was hit by a 4×4. The impact was so severe that it broke his T11 vertebrae as well as his C7. The doctors will be performing surgery on him this coming Friday to fuse the bones. After that he will need to wear a Halo brace for 3 months.
Obviously he will be unable to work during this time, which puts an immense financial strain on him and his family. Peter Sheringham, owner of The Piercing Urge where Ran works, is raising funds to help Ran during this horrendous time. If you have a couple bucks to spare, please send it via Paypal to [email protected]. Anything will help. If you’ve got a couple dollars, please send it as every penny counts!
In addition, Steve May will be selling this portrait of Ran at his gallery exhibit. All proceeds from the sale will be going to help Ran. So if you’re in the area, stop by the show, or you can get in touch with Steve via his email address ([email protected]). The show itself is about tattooed people in society, and kustom kulture in general.
A number of other fundraising efforts are underway, including a bake sale, and a facebook raffle. There is also a facebook group set up to send messages to Ran.
I’ll continue to post updates about Ran as his condition improves. We’re also in the process of getting his BMEtv interview up so for those of you not familiar with Ran can get a chance to see this wonderful man.
I’ve included his 1-hour tattoo video after the break, if you’d like to check that out.
The Piercing Urge’s website will also contain the most up to date information about Ran, so check there as well.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Ran is actually in surgery as I type this. I will come back later to give you all and update on his condition.
Also a huge thanks to all of you who have already donated some coin on Ran’s behalf.
I’m so bummed this happened! ran is such an awesome dude. I’m definitely sending good thoughts his way and will be donating as soon as I have the $$.
Update,
Ran has been in surgery for 8 hours now and is still going.
Will come back when we know what is going on, oh the time they suggested the surgery would take….3.5 hours
it’s not much money at all but centrelink has a sickness allowance for employed people (inc self employed) who are temporarily unable to work for medical reasons. i got it when i broke my arm and it payed the rent and provided food. not sure what the eligebitlity criteria is for people with a family but it could be worth looking into they have full details on the centrelink website
What song is this?