GoFundMe For Teen Killed In Queens Crash Raises $35K In 3 Days

WHITESTONE, QUEENS -- Hours after 17-year-old Madeline Sershen was hit and killed by a car in Whitestone on Monday, donations were already pouring into a GoFundMe page in her name.

Sershen's mother, Cathy, teaches at Francis Lewis School and administrators launched the crowdfund that afternoon in hopes of raising $10,000 to "ease the burden of funeral costs" on the family.

In three days, they more than tripled that amount. By Friday afternoon, donations to "Madeline's Memorial Fund" neared $35,000.

"Madeline's mother, Catherine is a valued employee of the PS 79 [Francis Lewis] school community and we can not imagine the pain she and her family are feeling," organizers wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The page's creator, listed as PS 79, did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

Sershen, an honor student who'd just finished her junior year at St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows, was crossing Utopia Parkway near 16th Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. on Monday when an 88-year-old driver ran a red light and hit her, police said.

The blow sent Sershan flying into the woman's 2005 Toyota sedan, cracking the windshield before she tumbled onto the pavement, authorities said. Cops found her unconscious with severe head trauma.

Medics rushed the teen to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, where she later died.

The driver, Sheila Kahn-Prager, of Beechhurst, was arrested at the scene and charged with disobeying a traffic device, failing to yield to a pedestrian and failing to exercise due care, an NYPD spokesman said.

"While no amount of money can erase this horrible tragedy, we as a school community want to support Catherine and her family during this painful time," organizers wrote.

The support came in waves. By Thursday afternoon, more than 450 people had donated to the GoFundMe page and upwards of 1,400 people shared it. Despite the original $1o,000 goal having long passed, donations continued to trickle in by the minute.

Dozens of those donors offered their emotional support, too, in comments posted to the page.

"Maddie was an amazing young woman that we had the pleasure of getting to know over the years," wrote donor Debbie Lyn. "We are praying for your family."

Another, Roc Domo told the family she was "deeply sorry for the loss of such a bright star."

The page's highest contributors, identified on GoFundMe as the Figueira Family, sent their $1,000 donation to the family with this heartfelt note:

"Upon us you bestowed an angel in disguise. Her beautiful eyes and bright smile always lit up our house. Over the past two years, Madeline became one of us. She not only stole Thomas' heart, but a little piece from all of us. We loved her dearly as if she were our own. We know she will always be looking over Thomas and all us. May you rest in peace Madeline. We will always love and remember you!"

(Lead photo via GoFundMe, a media partner of Patch)