Luke Menard is a 29 year old from Crawfordsville, Indiana. He is the oldest member of American Idol's Top 24 this season. We know very little about Luke Menard, since American idol neglected to give the man any screen time during the audition episodes or the Hollywood round. He's a fan of James Taylor and Maroon 5, so we know that Luke Menard at least has well-rounded taste.
Luke's stint on American Idol ended on March 6, when he was eliminated alongside Kady Malloy, Asiah Epperson and Danny Noriega.
"It's a tough career," Luke said about his efforts in breaking into the music industry. "I've made big sacrifices also. I toured in the a capella group for the last six years, and I made a big decision to leave that group to pursue American Idol. It's a huge risk, but the way I've always looked at it is you can’t further your career unless you're willing to take those risks. So, it's a risk I've taken and it brought me to the Top 16, so I'm hoping that this will spur a big career for myself."
Shortly before the finale of the show aired, Menard discovered he had a type of cancer known as Hodgkin lymphoma. Jane Victor told CBS News, "Luke had a lingering cough and was having trouble breathing deeply, so he went to the doctor to have it checked out. The suspicion was walking pneumonia. But after a chest x-ray doctors saw a mass and did more testing, which is what led to the stage II Hodgkin diagnosis."
Hodgkin lymphoma has one of the highest success rates of treatment for any type of cancer, so Menard and his wife remain hopeful. He is currently seeking treatment.
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