By OBS Staff Member ifellhard

Earlier this week, the hype surrounding “Twilight” at Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego was dampened with the death of a Twilight fan, Gisela Gagliardi, when she was struck by a car while crossing the street.   She had been camping out for “Breaking Dawn- Part 2” panel and apparently fell into traffic when Comic-Con staffers were reconfiguring the line of fans camped outside of the convention center.

In the wake of this tragic event, Twilight fans across the country are expressing an outpouring of support and sympathy for the woman and her family.   Fans at Comic-Con are wearing black ribbons to honor her and fan fiction authors have set up a fundraiser to assist her to family with funeral expenses (which are insanely expensive if you’ve never had to experience the misfortune of dealing with that).  The deadline for donations to help with expenses is Friday, July 13.  Fans can also make donations in Gisela’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association to receive the compilation. To participate in the Fandom4TwiFanG fundraiser or for details on how to receive the compilation with the charitable donation to alz.org, click here.

As of right now, the site has surpassed their goal of $5,000.  The average cost of a funeral today is between $10,000 and $15,000, as if the loss of a loved one isn’t stressful enough.  In a world full of cynical and jaded people, it’s refreshing to see the outpouring of love and support for a woman and her family.   While it may speak volumes about the comaraderie in the Twilight fandom, I think that the bigger story is that there are good, kind-hearted people out there who are willing to help complete strangers in a world where it’s often easier to turn a blind eye.