DALLAS TWP. — Ten-year-old Nicky Sorbelli lost his 10-month battle with T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Feb. 17.
The news shared on the family’s Facebook page, Please Help Nicky Sorbelli, spread from Key West, Florida, where the family currently resides, to Luzerne County, where the family owns Wayne’s World, a music store in the Back Mountain.
The family’s ties to the region inspired the Dallas franchise of Liberty Tax Service to make the Sorbelli family the beneficiary of its annual charitable campaign.
“We are still going to collect donations to help the family defray expenses they are now facing,” said Thom Heaney, the owner of the Liberty Tax Service franchise in Dallas Township. “We found out today (Feb. 18). The news has cast a cloud over the office.”
The Back Mountain branch of Liberty Tax Service will donate $25 for every new customer who files their taxes and mentions the code “NICKY2016.”
Collection boxes are placed at each tax preparer’s desk for any customer wishing to donate to the family, Heaney said.
Nicky was diagnosed with the aggressive form of cancer in May 2015.
He endured intensive chemotherapy treatments and was declared cancer-free for a few months. But in November, two tumors were detected in his chest and throat.
Doctors determined the cancer had become resistant to chemotherapy and switched to stronger treatments.
At that point, the family’s finances were stretched thin with medical expense as they maintained a permanent residence in Key West, Florida, and an apartment near the Miami Medical Center to be near their son. The Sorbellis focused their attention on Nicky and temporarily shut down a second shop, Island Guitar, also known as Wayne’s World 2, in Key West.
