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I don't think your comparison works. With the athlete they use their own resources to visit the child with the terminal illness. In Leorio's case he's asking for help to heal Gon.Have you seen those stories about say a child with a terminal disease wishes to meet say, a famous athlete? Why should the famous athlete care that a dying child wants to meet him? Why should you care this dying child got his wish? Yet they show stuff like that on TV because people clearly do care even though you presumably have absolutely no idea who the child is. It's one of those feel good stories that people can rally behind. It's similar to how people tend to root for the underdog. If a candidate for presidency got shot but recovered, people usually rally behind that guy. Why should you care that a candidate got shot? It's not like getting shot improves his ability to lead (in fact it can only worsen it), but people support that guy because there's some human tendency to support the underdog.
It's not the fact that Gon is a celebrity amongst the Hunter world (all of Gon's friends would probably vote for Leorio just knowing he's a close friend anyway) that gets him support.
Leorio is basically admitting he can't save Gon on his own but that he needs help.
The athlete can help on their own. Leorio can't. Leorio needs help. Even the candidate
getting shot is a triumph story and against all odds. Leorio is just admitting defeat.
The only way I could see it working is that people just admire Leorio's honesty.