Page 16 - May 2018 Speedhorse

ThE MonTh in rEviEw
by Jennifer K. Hancock
Helping One Of Our Own
Horse racing can be a tough industry with fierce competition. But on the breeding farms, at training fa- cilities, on the tracks’ backsides and in the grandstands, treasured friendships are built. Recently TVG host Dave Weaver stepped up to organize a fundraiser for his fellow handicapper Les Onaka, who has been out of the broad- cast booth with some health issues. Onaka soon found that he had touched many lives who were ready to help.
At https://www.gofundme.com/les-onaka-medical- fund, Weaver wrote: “Many of you over the last couple of months have asked how my friend Les Onaka has been doing. Today, I learned some sad and troubling news. Les has been in and out of the hospital over the course of the last few weeks. And at one point was unresponsive for three days. He is now home resting. Unfortunately for him, this is nothing new as he’s been dealing with the effects of diabetes, asthma and now nerve damage in both of his legs for the better part of the last year. The devastating realization is that because
he has been unable to work for much of the past twelve months, his medical leave has expired and he no longer has any savings left to afford his insurance and medica- tion expenses that have become overwhelming. So I’m asking anyone that would like to rally around Les and keep him going to please contribute to his gofundme page so he can literally survive. Les also has an autis- tic son that he’s worked so hard for the last 30 years
to support and I feel so terrible that everything has crashed down on him so hard the last few months. So on his behalf, I am hoping we can all chip in to help him realize we all love and care about him more than he ever knows. I hope this reaches you all well and I am certain many of you are going through rough times yourselves and understandably can’t help. Whether you are able to contribute financially or in any form thank you so much for being a part of Les’ life.”
In two days, $20,000 was raised to support Onaka, and the original $40,000 goal was surpassed with 568 people donating a total of $43,500.
Got Good News to Share?
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Jennifer K. hancock
Kaleb Keller, Les Onaka & Dave Weaver of TVG
14 SPEEDHORSE, May 2018
Track chaTTer