Good heavens.
Talk about a streak of incredibly bad luck. Neither my girlfriend or her father saw their medical problems coming. He was physically fit one week - then bam! - he's suddenly in the hospital and undergoing surgery. She was dealing with back pain for a few weeks, thought it was a pulled muscle until the pain persisted, only to find out she's riddled with cancer. And both of them drained their resources before all of this helping the brother, his wife, and their young daughter hold onto their house. The brother wasn't a slacker, either. He took a contract half-way across the country, and spent 6 months away from his family, to pay the bills in the hopes of that work leading to more work. Unfortunately, when the contract ended, so did the leads. He's worked several low-pay jobs just to bring in some kind of money while he looks for other work, and his wife started her own landscaping business to put food on the table. As it is, they will probably have to sell their house - they were hoping to hang onto it for their daughter's sake, and renting is just as expensive as their mortgage payment right now.
I pray for them, as they have been great neighbors, wonderful friends, always ready to help someone out in their time of need.
Not all the folks that declare bankruptcy are slackers, or didn't prepare for a rainy day, as some other posters have suggested. These folks got hit by a hurricane, and my girlfriend hasn't seen the half of it yet.