Donate to Sharon Formanek's Cancer Battle

Hello all, my name is Zach Formanek. I come from a family who gets joy out of helping others when we can.

I grew up in a family where my parents would drop whatever they were doing just to help a friend in need, no matter what the task or problem was. I saw it all, my parents giving everything they had to us and then giving more to others around us. The more they gave, it seemed the happier life was. They gave it all. They've of course received help when asked and when needed as hardships come out of left field sometimes. Over the years, I learned that generosity is the gift that keeps on giving and the gift that comes around full-circle.

Under normal circumstances, one of these pages would not be set up and life would go on. But currently, those generous parents you just read briefly about are growing older and they are now retired with a fixed income.

Recently, my mother, Sharon, was diagnosed with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. She is undergoing chemotherapy treatment and will undergo surgery as well. The chemotherapy situation is hard to hear about and even harder to witness for anyone going through that.

My father, Leonard, is doing anything and everything he is able to do for her. Whether that is trying to get her to eat, cleaning and keeping the house in order, keeping food in the refrigerator, making sure my older brother (I'll get to that story in a minute) has insulin and test strips provided for him. All of this while they look for time to spend with their grandchildren in the slim margin of time that chemo will let you feel normal.

Now onto my brother, Matt... This story is, for lack of a better term, played out. Long story short - he was an on-duty mailman that got pulled over, harassed, and assaulted by two corrupt police officers when he was 20 years old. He hasn't been right in the head since. My father and mother both tried to win a lawsuit in his favor, or at least stand trial with the public officials, but that all came to fail. They spent thousands of dollars of life savings and retirement savings to bring justice to him, but that never happened, and Matt never ended up leaving the house. He is now 35 with PTSD, Type 1 Diabetes from a taser incident the year after his first run-in, and some other mental health issues which my folks are dealing with.

And so that brings me here, pleading our case for the world to see and maybe help, like my parents used to do for other people. As much as my family would like to help cover the cost of their medical debt after all of this is said and done, unfortunately, we do not have the financial means to do it alone. So I am asking without the permission of my parents to give them some help, help give them a break. I know we all have our own battles, and currently this is mine. I pray every night that my folks get the break they deserve, it feels like watching endless trials and tribulations with them. Please help my mom, Sharon Formanek, with her medical debt as she fights cancer!