"Game Of Thrones" Fans Have Raised More Than $130K For Emilia Clarke's Brain Injury Charity

Authored by buzzfeednews.com and submitted by Sariel007
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A fundraising campaign for Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke's charity SameYou has surpassed its goal of £100,000 (approximately $130,000) in two weeks, with donations pouring in around the world from more than 5,000 fans eager to thank the show's actors for their hard work.

Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, founded the brain injury rehabilitation charity after having two life-threatening aneurysms while filming Game of Thrones.

The idea for the fundraiser — as well as a companion campaign in honor of Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow — was born on Reddit, specifically /r/freefolk, an active, irreverent community (with an incredibly strong meme game) devoted to the show and the Song of Ice and Fire books.

After learning of the fundraiser on May 30, Clarke made an Instagram post thanking fans for raising — at the time — £38,000 for her charity.

"I’m so incredibly moved and blown away and grateful," she said. "[The fundraising campaign] has made my day, week, month, year, decade, and I couldn’t think of a more beautiful way to wave goodbye to the Mother of Dragons than with this step towards making brain injury sufferers feel less alone."

But on Thursday, SameYou announced that the campaign had reached its goal of £100,000. The charity uploaded a video of a beaming Clarke lip-synching the song "Simply the Best" with a caption thanking /r/freefolk and campaign founder, redditor elle_ellaria.

The incredible support of Elle Ellaria, @reddit’s r/FreeFolk and Emilia’s fans worldwide means their campaign has raised over £100,000 for SameYou. Thank you so, so much. As Emilia says, you guys are simply the best! 🧡 #sameyoucharity

In an email to BuzzFeed News on Thursday, elle_ellaria, who asked to only be identified by her first name, Sarah, said that she never expected the fundraiser to raise so much money.

"I truly thought this fundraiser peaked around 35k, so seeing it hit 100k and keep climbing just fills my heart with joy," she wrote.

Sarah told BuzzFeed News that the success of these two campaigns is a testament to Game of Thrones fans and their enduring support for the show's cast, regardless of the mixed reactions to the final season. "Every fandom," she said, "[has people] who love to kill a good thing or veer the passion over into vitriol, but, by and large, the outpouring of love and support has been unmistakable."

The SayYou fundraiser's success — and the recent news that Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow, had checked into a wellness retreat in the wake of the series finale — inspired another member of /r/freefolk to create a companion campaign so fans could donate to charity in honor of him. This second campaign is raising money for Mencap, a UK-based charity for which Harington is an ambassador that "works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities." Harington has spoken previously about his cousin, who has a learning disability, and how their relationship inspired him to work with Mencap. In the week since its creation, the campaign in honor of Harington has received donations totaling more than £42,000 (approximately $53,000) from nearly 2,700 fans.

UnbekannterMann on June 9th, 2019 at 04:59 UTC »

I suffered a subdural hematoma from a motorcycle accident that led to massive changes in behavior and loss of smell. I love seeing this stuff because nobody ever really considers the internal struggles people with TBI's suffer. It's easy to look at burn victims or someone with missing limbs and think "oh yea, I can see the struggle", but people can't typically see the devastation of brain injuries. I am all for any cause that helps bring these issues to light. Just because someone looks normal and healthy on the outside doesn't mean all is well.

dcredneck on June 9th, 2019 at 03:23 UTC »

When I saw this post headline I thought, “I hope we get another adorable video” and I was not disappointed. Two thumbs up for everyone involved.

kkkarmon on June 9th, 2019 at 03:14 UTC »

r/freefolk did it!!