When ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, the shock rippled far beyond his family, colleagues, and the hospital where he cared for patients. For many nurses and healthcare workers, the loss felt deeply personal.
Pretti’s death was more than the loss of a life; it meant losing a caregiver, a colleague, and someone whose work was rooted in service to others.
Within days, something unexpected happened.
A GoFundMe launched by Keith Edwards, host of The Keith Edwards Show Podcast, raised more than $1 million in just over 24 hours. The campaign grew thanks to small donations, shared posts, and a collective desire to help a grieving family. What began as a simple act of support quickly became a powerful example of community care in action.
Why Keith Edwards Started the Fundraiser
In a video message to his audience, Edwards struggled to find the words. He described attempting multiple takes before finally pressing record—not because he didn’t know what to say, but because gratitude felt inadequate.
“I have this platform,” Edwards said. “I just want to use it for good.”
Created to support the Pretti family, the fundraiser offered tangible help during an unimaginable time. Edwards, who has experienced his own loss, was clear about the limits of money in easing pain.
“There’s no amount of money that would have made that better,” he said. “But a lot of good can come from this.”
For many donors, that clarity mattered. The fundraiser wasn’t positioned as a solution—it was an act of care.
An Outpouring of Kindness, One Donation at a Time
What followed surprised even Edwards.
Within hours, donations poured in. People shared the fundraiser across platforms like YouTube, Threads, and X. Edwards described this as a “chain reaction.” By the next day, the total had surpassed $1 million.
For nurses and healthcare workers across the country, the response felt familiar in a different way. It echoed the same collective instincts that arise in hospitals during crises: people step in, do what they can, and refuse to look away.
The donors weren’t just contributing money. Many sent messages expressing grief, solidarity, and appreciation for Pretti’s life and work. Others shared how the fundraiser restored something harder to quantify—a sense of hope.
“There’s a lot of good people in this world,” Edwards said. “That’s what I’m going to be thinking about.”
Honoring Alex Pretti’s Life and Work
Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center who cared for veterans. By all accounts from colleagues and family, he was quiet, compassionate, and deeply committed to his patients.
For healthcare professionals, Pretti’s story resonates. It reflects a shared truth: nursing is not just a job. It is an identity shaped by empathy, responsibility, and presence. These qualities often extend beyond the hospital walls.
His death has prompted grief across the nursing community. This is not only because of how he died, but also because of how he lived: in service to others.
The fundraiser has become one way for people—many of whom never met Pretti—to honor that life. It is how they say, collectively, we see you.
A Signal of Something Bigger
Edwards has been careful not to overstate what the fundraiser represents. But he has also been candid about what it reveals.
“This shows that we are very powerful,” he said. “There are a lot of us. We’ve got time, we’ve got energy, and we’re willing to mobilize.”
For nurses and healthcare leaders, this moment offers an important reflection. Healthcare has long relied on informal networks of support. Examples include GoFundMe pages for injured colleagues, meal trains for families, and community fundraising after tragedy. What happened after Alex Pretti’s death shows how quickly those networks can scale when people feel connected to shared care.
It may signal a key shift: collective action rooted in compassion can extend care beyond individual institutions into the broader community.
Let This Be the Beginning
In his message, Edwards urged supporters not to see the fundraiser as an endpoint.
“Let this not be the stop,” he said. “Let this be the start. Let this be the beginning.”
For the Pretti family, the donations may help with immediate needs. For the nursing and healthcare community, the response has offered something else: a reminder that care does not end with a shift change. Collective kindness still has the power to move quickly—and meaningfully—when it is needed most.
Alex Pretti’s life, work, and death have touched people far beyond Minnesota. In the outpouring of support that followed, many have found not answers but affirmation—a shared reminder that through care and solidarity, our humanity endures.
And for a community built on caring for others, that matters.
Support the Pretti Family
The GoFundMe fundraiser for Alex Pretti’s family needs your support. Please donate or share the page to make a meaningful difference during this difficult time.
A Note of Thanks
Nurse Approved extends sincere thanks to Keith Edwards for using his platform to support the Pretti family during an extraordinarily difficult time. His decision to create the GoFundMe fundraiser helped transform grief into meaningful support and reminded many in the nursing and healthcare community of the power of collective kindness.
