Jade Michelle (21) and fiance Dave Salmon (26) will put the money towards their living expenses as they support their 1-year-old son after a life-saving operation. Mackye Salmon underwent open-heart surgery at Auckland's Starship Hospital last week and is recovering well.
The family plans to be home this weekend, providing things go smoothly. Ms Michelle said she was grateful for community support shown to the family during a stunt in which Alexandra radio announcer "Massive Dan" Murphy spent 24 hours suspended 20m over the Clutha River.
"It's all so overwhelming . . . we weren't expecting anything like this. I want to say thanks to everyone involved."
Mr Murphy was alerted to the young family's plight after reading an Otago Daily Times article, and vowed to help. At 4pm on Monday he was hoisted by a crane out over the Clutha while sitting inside a company vehicle attached to a trailer.
At 4pm yesterday he made a dramatic exit from the Mitsubishi Challenger, jumping from the vehicle into the river below, to be picked up by a volunteer coastguard crew in a boat.
He said the worst part of his stunt came in the first 10 minutes, during which it was hard to get used to the vehicle's rocking and swinging.
"I was actually quite scared. It was really windy at first and the car kept tilting forward so I was looking down at the river . . . like on a pirate ship amusement park ride."
Walking for the first time in 24 hours, Mr Murphy said his legs had forgotten how to move, but he otherwise felt fine.
A highlight of the experience was when Alexandra Volunteer Fire Brigade members arrived on the scene about 8.30pm and aimed thousands of litres of water on to the car, giving it a wash and drip-dry, he said.
Despite being 2.03m tall, Mr Murphy said he "slept like a baby" in the vehicle, waking just in time to start a live radio broadcast from the car at 6am yesterday.
