With all due respect, requesting money from strangers like this and not even giving a reason why you require such a large donation is probably not going to go down too well. I don't have the cash to do that anyway, but just thought I'd give you a heads up.
Thanks for your response, and I largely agree with you, but there are generous people out there, and I am usually one of them, but now I'm asking for help.
The risk/reward ratio for doing this is fairly minimal, and if someone who has the resources sees this plea, and actually helps me out, then it would be worth it, no?