‘Supernatural’ Star Jared Padalecki Starts GoFundMe for Series’ Late ‘Family Member’

Jared Padalecki is using his platform to help provide for Supernatural “family member” Holli DeWees, who died earlier this month after a battle with breast cancer. The actor, who played Sam Winchester in the series, launched a GoFundMe campaign to support DeWees’ loved ones, including her husband Mike and their two children.

“As some of you may have seen, one of our own #SPNFamily members has recently passed away from a brave battle with cancer,” he wrote on the campaign’s page last week. “Holli Dewees was not only family, but a longtime volunteer with Random Acts. She worked to make so many lives better, and now we have an opportunity to take up her mantle and provide some help to the most important people in her life — her kids.”

The fundraiser has already raised almost $29,000 of a $10,000 goal, all of which will go directly to DeWees’ husband and children. “Thank y’all so much for helping her family make it through this incredibly difficult time,” the Gilmore Girls actor continued. “With love and gratitude.”

Padalecki also promised to Zoom one supporter of the campaign but noted that you didn’t need to donate in order to be entered so as not to violate GoFundMe’s terms of service. “Thank y’all for all the support you’ve given this family so far,” he wrote as an update. “Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that GoFundMe cannot take donations that are intended to be used for a raffle. But I’d still love to talk to one of y’all. So regardless of donating or not, if you’d like to throw your name in for a chat you can continue to do so.”

DeWees was open about her cancer diagnosis on social media, sharing in September 2020 that she had received bad news about her breast cancer. “It has spread to my lymph nodes,” she wrote at the time. “It’s triple negative, which makes it very aggressive. My doctors really do not want to use radiation due to my autoimmune issues. I’m at least stage 3, and right now we’re trying to determine if it’s spread beyond that. If my other health issues have been masking anything. If it has spread, it will be stage 4.” She continued, “I hope if any of you are going through something you feel less alone reading this.”