My father spent his entire life sacrificing himself for our family.

Many years ago in Korea, he was a successful businessman in the construction industry. He worked incredibly hard and provided a stable life for us. Wanting to expand his business overseas, he went to Southeast Asia for a new opportunity, but he was scammed by someone connected to local power there and lost almost everything our family had built over many years.

After losing everything, my parents immigrated to another country and lived day by day just trying to survive. Later, because a family member became ill, they had to return to Korea with almost nothing.

At that time, my parents were already in their late 40s. My mother worked restaurant part-time jobs, and my father worked forklift labor and any physical work he could find just to keep our family alive. They saved what little they could, and with help from my grandmother, they opened a very small restaurant.

The food was good, and some loyal customers continued visiting us every month, but there were never enough customers to survive financially. Eventually, the restaurant closed.

My father then went overseas again, working in restaurants in Australia and Slovakia. He was willing to do any kind of work for our family. But because of visa problems and worsening health issues, he eventually returned to Korea once again.

Even after all those hardships, he still wanted to rebuild his life. He started another construction company with a business partner. During the first year, the company actually became successful and earned a large amount of money. But the partnership eventually collapsed, and my father had to leave and start over again from the beginning.

Not long after restarting his business, our lives changed forever.

My father was diagnosed with a rare cancer called sarcoma.

At first, doctors believed surgery could save him. Thanks to a connection through my grandmother, he was able to receive surgery quickly at a major hospital. But when doctors opened his abdomen, they discovered a massive tumor over 35 centimeters large — almost the size of a rugby ball.

He underwent an enormous surgery that left a scar from his chest down to below his abdomen.

Since 2021, my father has gone through four major surgeries. His cancer does not respond well to chemotherapy, so surgery has been the only treatment option. Parts of several organs had to be removed. Since the latest surgery, he suffers from severe daily digestive problems and diarrhea, and his body has become much weaker.

Because my father could no longer run his company after the first surgery, our family was forced to urgently sell the business at a very low price. Somehow, after moving more than seven times over several years, my parents barely managed to keep one house.

My mother became his full-time caregiver, which meant our family income almost completely disappeared. Medical expenses, daily living costs, loans, and debt slowly overwhelmed them.

Then in 2023, my grandmother passed away.

For our family, this became another devastating loss. My father and his siblings went through painful inheritance conflicts, and after taxes there was almost nothing left for him. I did not even know how serious the financial situation truly was until recently.

Only one month ago, I learned that my parents had been surviving through credit card debt, loans mortgage borrowing while continuing cancer treatment and trying to keep their home.

I recently got married myself, my husband and I tried to help my parents as much as we realistically could, but it was not enough.

Around the same time, while carrying the emotional stress of everything happening to my family, I also suffered a missed miscarriage during early pregnancy.

Everything has felt overwhelming.

My younger sister recently gave birth to her third child and is struggling with her own responsibilities, and our family has simply reached a point where there is nowhere left to turn.

The hardest part is hearing my father say he feels like his life was meaningless.

But I know that is not true.

He spent his entire life sacrificing himself for his family. Even after losing everything, he kept trying again and again. He worked construction, carpentry, tile work, plumbing, restaurant jobs — any difficult labor he could find — just to feed us and keep us alive.

Now, after years of surgeries and pain, he says he only continues living because he feels guilty leaving debt behind for my mother.

I cannot fully express how heartbreaking it is to watch someone who worked this hard lose hope.

We are currently trying to organize debts, sell the house, and survive month by month while continuing his treatment and care.

We are hoping to raise approximately $150,000 USD to help my father continue his treatment and recovery, while supporting our family’s basic living expenses and financial burden after years of medical hardship.

Any support, prayers, or even sharing this page would mean more to our family than words can express.

Thank you sincerely for reading our story.

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*** For anyone outside Korea who may not be familiar with KRW:

USD $1 is around 1,400 KRW, and even a small donation honestly helps our family more than people might realize.

Thank you again to everyone who has read, shared, or supported us in any way.

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*** For anyone outside Korea who may not be familiar with KRW:

USD $1 is around 1,400 KRW,

and even a small donation honestly helps our family more than people might realize.

Thank you again to everyone who has read, shared, or supported us in any way

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