Web Forum Raises $55K Within Days for Boy Needing Bone Marrow Transplant

A popular web forum and community, Reddit, recently had a hand in helping raising enough money for 3-year-old boy to get a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant. The fundraising was so successful, the family actually had to ask people to stop donating money.

The Huffington Post reports that Lucas Gonzales has a rare immunodeficiency disorder --  Hyper IgM Syndrome -- for which a doctor recommended a bone marrow transplant to help alleviate some of the risks associated with the disease. In addition to the surgery, the transplant comes with other costs for which the family had to raise money. The Huffington Post continues:

In order for Lucas to receive the procedure, the Gonzalez family has to relocate from Florida to North Carolina, where the hospital is located. According to the post, a financial adviser estimated six-months worth of living expenses, insurance costs and medical bills would run the family about $50,000.

Lucas' aunt's boyfriend took to Reddit with the boy's story. He posted an image gallery under the username ironyx, and explained the family's circumstances.

The Huffington Post reports that within hours of the photos being posted on Reddit earlier this month, the site had raised $31,000. During the days that followed, the donations continued to pour in. At one point, a family member posted on the site that the Reddit community was "cut off" because the family had not only reached its goal but exceeded it:

STOP. STOP NOW. WE HAVE ALL THAT WE NEED. I CANNOT THANK EACH OF YOU ENOUGH. BUT SERIOUSLY, STOP DONATING NOW.

[...]

THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH. WE ARE FOREVER INDEBTED.

Even since then, those on Reddit have continued to post stating that if the family needs anything else just to appeal to the community again.

Read more about Lucas on his website www.loveforlucas.com.