Sakariah Pappachan

Sakariah “Zak” Pappachan of Fremont passed away on Saturday, February 17th, 2018, after spending a week in the ICU with a severe, inoperable brain bleed. He was 43 years old. Zak was born August 21st, 1974 in Hamilton, Canada. Zak, his parents Mary and Pappachan, and his older sister Pamela, moved to the United States in the early 1980s, first to Milpitas and then settling in Fremont. Zak attended Gomes Elementary, Hopkins Junior High, and Mission San Jose High School (class of 1993). Zak experienced health problems in his youth and was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease called Focal Glomerular Sclerosis. At the age of 13, he received his first kidney transplant from his mother. He thrived with her kidney for 25 years, during which time he graduated from CSU Fresno with his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Early Childhood Education. Advocating for children and their education was a passion of his, and he worked at the West Contra Costa Unified School District as a career counselor and tutor. In 2004, he met the love of his life Angela (Hartmangruber) at Saint Joseph Church, Mission San Jose in Fremont, and in 2009 they were married at the Mission, surrounded by hundreds of loving family and friends. In 2013, just after his daughter RayeAnn was born, he was added back to the kidney transplant waiting list and started dialysis. Three months later, he was blessed to be the directed donor recipient of a kidney by the family of Kristina Chesterman, a 21 year-old nursing student who had died in an accident. Kristina’s miracle of life gave Zak four and a half wonderful years with RayeAnn. Zak never took his second and third chances at life for granted, and he always had a hug and smile for everyone he met. He rarely complained, keeping his faith strong in “The Big Man Upstairs.” Zak is survived by his wife, Angela; his daughter, RayeAnn; his parents, Pappachan and Marykutty Kalathil; his sister, Pamela and brother-in-law Allen Arakal; and his nieces, Anissa, Karina and Natasha. Zak wished to be an organ donor himself, and he was able to donate both corneas and give the gift of sight to two people. The family is encouraging organ and tissue donation sign-ups in Zak’s name at: https://registerme.org/campaign/zakpappachan The family would like to thank the Saint Joseph Church and Malayalee associations FOMAA and MANCA for their continued love and support. If you would like to show your support, please donate to RayeAnn’s scholarship fund at https://www.gofundme.com/rayeannmarieeducation or the Kristina Chesterman Memorial Foundation at http://kcmfoundation.org/