Late Comedian Alex Duong’s Friends Come Together to Help Young Daughter

Actor-comedian Alex Duong‘s death is putting a lot of emotional and financial stress on his family … TMZ has learned. But loved ones are rallying around them.

Duong’s very close friend and GoFundMe operator Hilarie Steele tells TMZ … the mounting medical bills from Alex’s cancer treatment could add up to $500K or even $1 million … putting a lot of pressure on his wife, Christina.

Hilarie tells us the family is hoping the crowdsourcing page could kickstart a college fund for their 5-year-old daughter, Everest, and help the family buy a home.

Christina is working 4 days a week as a dental hygienist and, although she gets paid well, she still has trouble making ends meet, according to Hilarie.

Everest has been taking the loss pretty hard, the family friend says. Hilarie tells us Christina waited a bit to tell Everest the sad news in order to protect her … but when she did, Everest started “hysterically crying” before asking her mom, “He’s never coming back? He has no breath?”

Hilarie added Everest’s “heart aches so bad” because she worshipped her dad, noting she’s going to require therapy.