Support Gillian & her Family to Fight her Breast Cancer

Hi, we are Larry Banack and Stephen Morrison, two lawyers raising money for Russell and Gillian Bennett and their three children, Eli (12), Ezra (Ezzi) (9) and Hannah (5), who are currently facing very dire circumstances.

Russell Bennett is a lawyer and husband to Gillian, a stay-at-home mom, playwright/performer, who in late April was diagnosed with breast cancer and surgically treated in July.

Unfortunately, an aggressive and invasive cancer cell (HER2+) spread to her lymph nodes resulting in the urgent need for a challenging regimen of chemotherapy, begun last Friday, for the next four months.

Gillian will then undergo three weeks or more of radiation treatment in early 2025, followed by Herceptin treatments every three weeks for the following year, until early 2026. The next four months, however, will be the most aggressive and difficult.

In dealing with these medical issues, Russell’s ability to carry on his solo law practice has all but ended. He is taking care of Gillian post-surgery and his three children 24/7. The family has essentially burned through their savings and is now largely living on credit card debt. The situation is so serious that they do not have enough funding available to provide the children with back-to-school supplies, much less to secure childcare so that he can work.

We are attempting to provide help on two fronts. First, we are reaching out to colleagues to see if we can secure suitable work to provide Russell with some income until he can get back on his feet with his regular legal practice.

Second, we are approaching colleagues in an attempt to obtain some immediate financial assistance, so that they can secure childcare support and respite help.

We have each contributed $5,000. We are hoping that you, your firm, family or friends may be able to make a similar commitment. If you are not in position to do so, please consider making whatever contribution you can.

As you can appreciate, we do not make a request like this lightly but feel compelled to do so under the circumstances. Funds will pay for their basic living expenses including rent, utilities, groceries and childcare. Their need is both real and urgent.

Using this GoFundMe account will ensure your funds are immediately deposited to the family’s bank account.

Thank you most sincerely for your consideration of our request,

Larry Banack and Stephen Morrison