With Mom's Passing, We Need Some Help
Please bear with me as I attempt to find the words.
My mother, Vasso Sitzanis was a brilliant, beautiful, caring woman. She was a hard worker, an amazing teacher, and worked relentlessly toward the pursuit of your happiness. She was the kind of woman who never let you think anything was wrong. Someone who would go out of her way to claim all of your pain and sadness so that you wouldn't have to feel it. She carried the weight of our family on her shoulders and did it on her own and willingly with a smile on her face. A smile that we wish more than anything right now that we could see again.
When our family emigrated to America, we had nothing; no knowledge of the language and barely a penny to our name. My father gravitated to the Greek communities in our area to try to find work, but my mother knew that she had to find a way to assimilate if we had any chance of thriving even the slightest bit. She learned the language on the go, worked in places doing things she could barely understand, paid bills she couldn't read because no one else could. She worked two jobs her whole life, took so few vacations that we can still count them on one hand, raised two children in the process, and provided for us emotionally in such a deep way that it took us over 30 years and adulthood to fully grasp it. 
This leads me to the present. We need your help.
We lost our beloved mother on October 22nd to an unexpected infection that took a turn for the worse. Needless to say, our hearts are broken. Those words aren't even enough to describe it. Despite the pain, we are working to pick up the pieces that comes with saying goodbye to the foundation of our family far too soon.
My father is in a complicated situation. He barely speaks English, can not read it, he is bad with technology, hasn't paid a bill himself in his lifetime and my mother kept him in the dark about a lot of details regarding what was transpiring because it was simply easier to do so. We will do everything we can and more for him, but our lives are also hours away in our respective locations and something so simple as him receiving an important letter he can't understand becomes a giant challenge.
We have learned that my mother carried a lot of financial burden that accumulated over the years that she was trying to quietly handle on her own while continuing to make everyone else as happy as they could be. She was trying to do things she did not fully understand on her own, as she had always done.
Our family home is in early stages of foreclosure after they defaulted on their loan in February. We have lawyers doing whatever they can to untangle the mess. Inevitably, the hospital bill will arrive and we are not sure if there was medical insurance, nor what the degree of coverage was. The bills, including utilities are extremely behind. What few credit cards they have are likely in collections. Even with everything current, the monthly expenses will continue, only with half of the income present.
As difficult as it is to ask, we don't know that we can handle this on our own so we reach out to you all for any assistance you can provide. We set a goal because it was required, but there is no magic number to hit for this. We're in uncharted territory here. There's never been a reason us to do something like this before. Any and all contributions will go towards the aforementioned bills/fees along with helping our father be as prepared as possible for the complete uprooting of the only life he's ever known in a time frame that we simply can not bring him even partially up to speed in.
We thank you all from the depths of our hearts for reading our story and for the love and assistance thus far. When we receive any additional information, we will do our best to update this page.
~Konstantine & Maria
As an additional personal note, PLEASE if you or a loved one feel unwell, DON'T JUST BRUSH IT OFF. Go see a medical expert. If you don't like their answer, go see another one. Do not sit with the pain and hope it will go away. Go get the treatment you need. Please.
