After playing for 32 games straight Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer took home a whopping total of $2,462,216 and now he has decided to donate some of those winnings to help Alex Trebek and others diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Jeopardy! host Trebek revealed in March that he is battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Since then a public outpouring of love and support has come from fans of the long-running game show and its host.
Fundraiser Ann Zediker of the 2019 Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk in Naperville, Illinois reached out to Holzhauer to see if he would be interested in participating in the event. Holzhauer, who actually grew up in Naperville, was unable to attend, but he donated $1,109.14 to the cause “for Alex Trebek and all the other survivors.”
It might seem like a random number, but fans of the show will recognize the digits as the birth date of Holzhauer’s four-year-old daughter. Holzhauer also lost his own father to pancreatic cancer in 2010 making the cause and his donation even more meaningful.
—Shahrzad Warkentin
Featured photo: Jeopardy! via Instagram
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