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No. 13 Vol. 7
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By Cheryl Conway unds are still being collected from the community to help a Blairstown woman and her daughter deal with financial trouble after the sudden loss of their loved one. Long-time Roxbury resident Frank Zara, who later moved to Sparta and then settled in Blairstown, died suddenly on May 27 from a massive stroke at 60 years old. He left behind his wife of 26-years, Dotty, and daughter, Chelsea, a full-time student at Rutgers University. To help cover escalating medical bills and mortgage, Chelsea’s college friend started a Go Fund Me Page for support. Gina Sandelli of Landing started www.gofundme. com/in-memory-of-frankzara on June 19. In just 20 days, 228 people have raised $21,675 of $25k goal. “I didn’t even know they
www.thehackettstownnews.com
July 2017
Community Raises Funds To Help Struggling Family Pay Mounting Bills After Loved One’s Death
were making a page until I saw it,” says Chelsea, who plans to return to Rutgers University in September to earn her doctorate in physical therapy after receiving her bachelor’s from University of Connecticut. “We have to pay mortgage, insurance and all the bills. My mom and I are so shocked that we got such a response; it’s really humbling.” Both mother and daughter work at restaurants: Chelsea works as a waitress at Alice’s Restaurant in Lake Hopatcong; Dotty works overtime as a full time server at Long Horn in Parsippany. As the main household provider, Frank Zara had owned Zara Construction in Roxbury up until five years ago when he started working as a mason contractor for homes and businesses, says Chelsea. Spending more than 50 hours a week working
in construction, Frank developed severe pain in his right hip. When he visited Urgent Care on April 30 for the hip pain, he had been transferred to Newton Memorial and admitted on May 1. A series of biopsies and scans detected that the pain in his hip was due to cancer that had spread to his hips, pelvis, ribs and spine. “The most pressing issue of all was the cancer on his spine – a 5.2 cm tumor on his 3rd thoracic vertebrae,” as described on the go fund me page. “This tumor was pressing on his spinal cord. If it grew even the slightest bit, it would cause Frank to become completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. On May 19, Chelsea had her father transferred to the cancer specialists at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philadelphia, followed by radiation treatment to shrink the tumor on
his spine. “After just five sessions of radiation, Frank had been completely drained,” as described on the go fund me page. The treatment took an extreme toll on his body, especially when in combination with the endless testing, blood work, and extremely strong medication list.” Just days later, Frank suffered a massive, ischemic stroke, resulting in
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loss of speech and partial paralysis, and continued to physically decline. On May 27, Frank had passed away, surrounded by his loved ones. “As if losing a husband and father this fast, and this unexpectedly, wasn’t unimaginable enough, the medial bills that have piled in over the past three weeks have pushed Dotty and Chelsea beyond comprehension,” wrote Sandelli on the go fund me page. Although Frank had Aetna which covered 80 percent of the medical bills, the Zaras were still to pay $70,000 down from $372,000, says Chelsea. “After his passing, Dotty and Chelsea now also need to cover all household costs,” wrote Sandelli. “On top of it all, Chelsea has
pressing tuition payments due at the beginning of each semester. “When we mentioned the idea of creating a “Go Fund Me” page to the Zara’s, they quickly declined,” she continued. “They continuously stated how uncomfortable they felt asking friends and family to assist them with their financial issues. But, after Chelsea had sent us pictures of the medical bills, we knew we had to do something. “If every person who sees this page can find it in their heart to donate just $5, $10, or $20 – anything you are comfortable with donating - we could come together to help this family ease some of this unimaginable burden,” Sandelli concluded.