The charity founded by Tua Tagovailoa received an influx of donations in the 24 hours after Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered another concussion — with most of the money coming from the Buffalo area.
According to ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, The Tua Foundation received nearly 1,000 donations totaling almost $18,000 thanks to Bills fans promoting the charity on social media encouraging others to contribute.
The foundation, founded by Tagovailoa in 2021, confirmed to ESPN that many of the donations came from addresses in and around Buffalo.
The Tua Foundation is “dedicated to the support of youth initiatives, health and wellness, and other charitable causes” and has aided Big Brothers Big Sisters of both Miami and Broward County and Tagovailoa’s alma mater in Honolulu, among other places.
This isn’t the first time the Bills Mafia have stepped up and rallied around an injured Tagovailoa.
After Tagovailoa suffered a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022, Bills fans organized and made over 1,700 donations to the The Tua Foundation.
Concern remains for Tagovailoa’s future
As calls for Tagovailoa to retire after another concussion come from people in and around the NFL, including Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, the Dolphins are focused on the quarterback’s health.
“I’m just worried about the human being,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said. “I was just worried about my guy. It’s not something you ever want to be a part of. You hope not to.”
“It’s just an unfortunate situation,” Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold said. “All of our prayers are out to him and his family. We’re a tight-knit family on this team. We’re just hoping he’s safe and we’ll move forward with that. We’re always praying for guys to come out healthy so this is a tough one to see.”
On Friday, McDaniel said backup QB Skylar Thompson would take over for Tagovailoa, and that the Dolphins would likely sign another quarterback in the meantime — giving Tagovailoa time to heal before they make any major decisions.