Larry Nickel, the longtime and affable listener-turned-contributor on the popular “The Morning After” show on KFNS (590 AM), is battling cancer and faces a tough trek financially as well as physically.

So the program’s leader, Tim McKernan, set up a GoFundMe account last week to try to raise money, with the hope of drawing $10,000. But through Monday, more than $55,000 had been committed by the show’s listeners and others.

“We knew people loved him, but we never expected it to lead to (so much) in donations from more than 1,300 people,” McKernan said. “It’s been amazing. Most of the donations are $20 to $50. But so many people have gotten on board, it’s added up to this huge total. It’s phenomenal.”

Nickel, who began chemotherapy treatments this week, had an interesting start with the program that now airs from 7-10 a.m on weekdays on the mostly sports-talk station.

“He called into the show randomly close to a decade ago to correct us on some wrestling stats,” McKernan said. “And that led to him becoming a regular on the show. The ‘WWE Recap’ is more of a way to just have him on regularly as he is so popular with the audience."