Comedian Matthew Parise, better known on Twitter as @sucittaM, unexpectedly took his wife Danielle to the hospital in January when she suffered a serious brain trauma.
Danielle immediately underwent neurosurgery to relieve pressure on the brain, followed by more surgeries to stop and remove a cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
The surgeries were successful, and Danielle is out of the ICU and on her way to a long, expensive recovery.
To show support, Twitter notables -- including Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, Jenny Johnson, Lauren Ashley Bishop and Ed Weeks, among others -- have auctioned a variety of cool items.
Signed blink-182 bass! Buy this thing! Help our friend in physical therapy! RT to infinity! ebay.com/itm/2211934838…— Mark Hoppus (@markhoppus) February 24, 2013
Let the bidding begin! If you bid enough and live in Houston I'll take you to lunch and give you the shirt. charityauctionorganizer.com/Az/1cb9f9bf-0e…— Jenny Johnson (@JennyJohnsonHi5) March 3, 2013
Hoppus donated an autographed guitar and one-on-one Google Hangout which sold on Tuesday for $10,000. Johnson's autographed Madonna t-shirt, worn in her Twitter avatar, sold for $5,000 in under an hour.
"I haven't added it all up, but from the Internet alone, I'd say there is well over $20,000," Parise told Mashable.
Parise says that he has never met many of the contributing comedians in real life -- identifying them as their Twitter handles -- but he is lucky to have people like @yoyoha, @lafix, @uncledynamite and @mrbigfists on his side.
"I've made a lot of friends in my four years on Twitter and I'm really starting to see just how good of friends they really are," says Parise.
Several items, including personalized artwork and autographed goods, are still up for auction. Comic and contributor Josh Hara (@yoyoha) says that about 60 people are hand writing tweets that will be bound into a book and be up for auction soon. You can bid here or donate directly through Pledgie.
"I’d like to express my warmest, most heartfelt thank you for all who have helped us in any way," writes Parise. "We would not be as far along as we are now without all your thoughts, prayers, words, and support."
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