Hello everyone,

My name is Frank Sherman. I used to be 345 lbs and I’ve lost over 120 lbs within the last 17 months doing carnivore. Best shape of my life and beat diabetes type 2. I have two boys. The oldest is Nick at 21 and the youngest is Lincoln, who is 8, autistic, and nonverbal. I’ve had a really rough go these last 4 years. I don’t know how to do this GoFundMe stuff, but I’m running out of options and praying this is the hail-mary that lands. I’m writing what I assume is a lot, but I hope you will give it a read.

I went through a divorce a few years ago. It was an ugly one. I fought for my son. I literally lost everything. All my tools, the house, vehicle, etc. The only things I had left by the time it was all said and done were some of my clothes. The divorce cost me close to $30k. Most of that was just me defending myself from allegations that were thrown at me every time we went to court. In the end, I won 50/50 custody of my son. That’s all I wanted. Regardless, it put me in massive debt.

My sister, during all this, was going to move in with me to help me with my son so that I could work full-time. She then abruptly passed away during the custody battle of my son. Besides the heartbreak of losing my little sister, this put me in a bind because I now had no one to help with my son. Also, now keeping my current job or finding a new one was going to be near impossible due to my very odd schedule. My sister and my brother are the only family I have. My brother has his own struggles in life, so I’m left with no one to fall back on. Regardless, I tried to make it work. I would work as much as possible, get my son from school and take him to ABA, then go back to work, then get him from ABA and take him to speech therapy. Throw in doctor appointments, and it’s easy to see I couldn’t work enough to make a living or keep a job.

I eventually started a headstone engraving business with my brother. This would allow me to work with my schedule and produce a future for both of my boys. Providing a future for my boys is the most important thing to me. I hope they never have the struggles I face. The business is (though not a huge one) a money pot. From Austin to San Antonio, we have a lot of work available to us. There’s no one else really doing it, and all cemeteries are 6 months behind. The problem is we are having a hard time getting in. We tried the direct approach by trying to contact the GMs. They are almost impossible to get in contact with, but we did have luck on some. They were excited to use us but then ghosted us, so not sure what happened. So we are now trying an outside approach by taking on clients privately to put us in the cemeteries. It’s working, and the cemeteries are slowly starting to reach out to us. This is all great. The problem is it’s too little too late.

I flipped my truck last month. I couldn’t afford a new one. I was already a month behind in rent, and now I’m two months because I used the rent money to buy a cheap used vehicle. I lost my job last month, so I don’t have much money coming in. Just enough to pay gas and buy food, and that’s even short every week. I’m struggling to find a regular job for now because of my schedule. The business is about to start moving and producing. I just need to survive until it does. If I lose the place I’m living, I won’t be able to afford a new one. I can’t even afford to pack my stuff up, but the worst part is I take a chance of losing my son. I’m so close to making it. I’m giving it all I have. I at this point just need help to get there.

If you’re still reading, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m sure people see sob stories all the time. I hate I have to do this, period, but I have to fight back and get on top of things, and this is one of the ways I’m fighting back. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.