Luke Puskedra needs YOUR a help. His daughter has cancer. :(

Jonathan Gault wrote:

Very sad news but the running community is strong. In 13 hours, $4,355 has already been raised for Penelope.

Link to donate is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/luketrudiepenelope

Jon/Rojo/Wejo - get this on the front page and throw some LRC cash in there!

You can be guaranteed Luke has generated some $$$ from clicks for LRC over the years.

Ron Basejam wrote:

Jonathan Gault wrote:

Very sad news but the running community is strong. In 13 hours, $4,355 has already been raised for Penelope.

Link to donate is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/luketrudiepenelope

Jon/Rojo/Wejo - get this on the front page and throw some LRC cash in there!

You can be guaranteed Luke has generated some $$$ from clicks for LRC over the years.

Mark Floreani (of FloTrack) has made a donation ($250).

coach deez nuts wrote:

I hate that GoFundMe shows how much everyone donates.

I disagree, I think it's inspiring to be able to see all of these acts of kindness.

Terrible wrote:

Childhood cancer kills more kids than all other diseases combined

Actually, globally, cancer accounts for about 0.3% of deaths for children under 5. Compare this to malaria at 8%, pneumonia at 18%, other infections at 9%, and diarrhea at 14%. Not to mention AIDS, pertussis, meningitis, measles, and tetanus, each of which kill between 3 and 10 times as many children under five as cancer does.

In the US, you're right that cancer kills more children between 1 and 4 than any other disease (unless you count congenital abnormalities as a disease). However, for children under 1, cancer does not even make the top 10 list for causes of death, while several other diseases do (bacterial sepsis, cardiovascular system disease). Actually, children under the age of 1 is the only age category until you get to 65+ where cancer isn't the most deadly disease!

Anyway, this is a dark subject... My heart and thoughts are with the Puskedra family in this tough time.

37k in a day. Wow, impressed, and best wishes to Luke and family.

this^

i'm stoked about the amount. I won't, for even one little second, think "hey, isn't that enough" because, as many have mentioned, you have no idea how fast that flies out the door until you've lived through it and paid those bills and taken a few days off here and there to drive your kid to another hospital 4hrs away, etc. very pleased to see our community step up for luke. thanks to all

best wishes to the Puskedra family. They sure did pick an adorable photo, couldn't help but to donate

Ron Basejam wrote:

Jon/Rojo/Wejo - get this on the front page and throw some LRC cash in there!

You can be guaranteed Luke has generated some $$$ from clicks for LRC over the years.

We put it on the front page yesterday and sent out a tweet about it. I'm pretty sure our viewers have given him thousands over the last day.

I don't want to sound too insensitive but want to know what they are going to do with the excess money?

After the passing of Obamacare, everyone in the country should have health insurance. How much could they possibly need as a result? Yes some insurance plans have high deductibles but isn't like 5k the max? Originally the goal was 25k and we blew by that so now it's 50k.

How much does it cost to treat something like this?

I hope the extra money goes to a college fund. Actually I'd like to see it donated to cancer treatment for another poor family or to children's cancer research.

Does GoFundMe authenticate it's plans or make sure the money goes to what it's supposed to? Is GoFundMe tax deductible.

$300

njnytc njnytc

$200

frank and robbie gagliano

$50

Laura Thweatt

$100

Caroline Lefrak

$50

Diane Nukuri

$100

Danny & Katie Mackey

$1,000

Elizabeth Lananna !

$100

Alexa Efraimson

$30

Olivia Mickle

$1,000

Casimir Loxsom !

$100

Shannon Rowbury

$50

Jim Rosa

$100

Deena Kastor

Thinking of you and hope you know that your community of support is larger than you ever imagined! Let me know what more I can do. With love, Deena and Andrew

deena

(post got eaten)

$100

Kyle Merber

$500

Kimber Mattox

$500

Parker S

$25

Neely Gracey

Her dad's a fighter and so is she. Get well soon Penelope.

$100

Ryan Fenton

$50

NorCal Distance Project

$25

Melissa Salerno

$50

Alvina Begay

$25

Riley Masters

$75

Mattie & Curtis Suver

$50

Kellyn Taylor

$1,000

Will Geoghegan !!

etc...

Really sad and hoping the best for Luke and his family.

Kind of like 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, Boston, etc., though, in the wake of tragedy I think it is refreshing to see community come together. The running community has certainly been up in arms in the past year+ with all the doping stuff coming out, so it's nice to see an extended "family" coming out and helping one of their own.

Chris & Amy Solinsky - $200

Jamie & Greg Rupp - $200

Elizabeth Lananna - $1000

Alexa Efraimson - $100

Danny & Katie Mackey - $100

Diane Nukuri - $50

David McNeill - $40

Laura Thweatt - $50

Joseph McVeigh - $250

Ben & Jen Rosario - $20

Reid Coolsaet - $30

Alistair Cragg - $200

Ken Goe - $30

frank and robbie gagliano - $200

Shannon Rowbury - $100

Up to ~$41,300 as of right now. This is GREAT to see!!!

Read the go fund me page

#### wrote:

Read the go fund me page

Suzy or the fact that the update says Penelope has a good chance of beating this.

I am most touched by the number of college runners who are giving to Luke and his family. These are people that don't always have loads of disposable income yet they are giving. Blake Haney actually gave twice.

yoyomama wrote:

I am most touched by the number of college runners who are giving to Luke and his family. These are people that don't always have loads of disposable income yet they are giving. Blake Haney actually gave twice.

I think it is dumb we see how much people give and make character assessments based on how much someone is willing to give.

You are not required to have health insurance. You just have to pay a penalty at tax time if you haven't had it during the year.

rojo wrote:

We put it on the front page yesterday and sent out a tweet about it. I'm pretty sure our viewers have given him thousands over the last day.

Props for this -- I gave.

Folks, you'll see in the updates on the GoFundMe page that with any luck, little Penelope's bone marrow test will come back clear.

Just a friendly reminder that the major bone marrows registries are often at large race expos taking swab samples. For cancer patients who are facing a serious medical prognosis, a matching bone marrow donor is often the difference between life and death.

If you're inspired by this example what the running community can do, please consider taking a moment to sign up for a donor registry the next time you see a booth or table. Thanks.

want to know facts wrote:

I don't want to sound too insensitive but want to know what they are going to do with the excess money?

After the passing of Obamacare, everyone in the country should have health insurance. How much could they possibly need as a result? Yes some insurance plans have high deductibles but isn't like 5k the max? Originally the goal was 25k and we blew by that so now it's 50k.

It is impressive that nearly $50k has been donated in a day.

I am wondering about the insurance situation as well. There is the possibility they didn't have insurance.

If that is the case I wish they would say that as it would be a huge reminder for everyone to get insurance.

The max out of pocket maximum including deductible for a family is $13,600 under Obamacare:

Not sure about non Obamacare plans.

But if his wife had a baby last year likely they had insurance.

Now maybe they want extra to pay for stuff not covered by insurance including care from better doctors. Can't really fault them for that. Plus the max resets every year, but they could have a lower max as well.

They money on gofundme is not tax deductible.

The biggest thing I discovered is Gofundme just made $2,500 off of this. I just looked up their fees. 5% + they charge credit card fees. They're a for profit worth hundreds of millions.

If Luke raises $50,000 on 700 donations, GoFundMe will take $2,500. The credit cards will take $1660 and Luke and his family will get $45,480.

Penelope seems like a rough name for such a cute baby. Pushing $49K in donations already, though!