Davis, who served in the Navy in the 1970s, has been diagnosed with cancer.

David Dunkleberger and his friend Ed Sheets pulled into a yard sale in Brownstown last month. The man running it, 66-year-old Willie Davis, said he was selling his belongings to pay for his funeral.

BROWNSTOWN, Pa. — Two friends who set up a GoFundMe page for a Pennsylvania man who’d been holding yard sales to pay for his own funeral expenses say they’ve received so many donations they are planning to help other veterans in similar situations.

‘‘It broke your heart, hearing the story, and we just decided we had to do something to try and help him, try to make his life a little bit easier,’’ Sheets told WJAC-TV.


The cancer was initially misdiagnosed last year and he ended up with an infection, Davis told the Tribune-Democrat newspaper. After a biopsy revealed he had squamous cell carcinoma, Davis was told it had spread into his bones.

Dunkleberger initially set a $6,000 goal then raised it to $40,000. By Friday morning, over $50,000 had been donated.

Associated Press

Because of the large number of donations, GoFundMe asked him to include more information about their mission to help Davis, he wrote on the page. He said 100 percent of the funds raised will go to Davis’s funeral and burial costs.

A second update, after the goal was raised to $40,000 on Thursday, said they would keep raising the goal to help other veterans with funeral costs.