Major life problems impacted my grades, but will a bad year spoil my chances of getting into pharmacy school?

Question:
So in a pivotal semester I had a lot of family issues come up. My family got unemployed and we lost our home and I was forced to take up a 40 hr/week job at the last minute. Needless to say I failed a semester with an F in Organic + Lab, Statistics, PreCalculus, and a B in Biology and C in Biology lab.

Obviously this is going to nuke my GPA but I'm retaking these courses this semester. If I leave this semester with an A/B in the classes I got a F in would that semester be overlooked? Since PharmCAS averages those F classes into my GPA will schools look to see why the science and overall GPA was lower or would they throw it out by default?

I'm going to complete a degree in Biology so I'll be taking some of the higher level courses like immunology, biochemistry, endocrinology, cell biology, genetics, and etc. so I'm hoping that those courses will show that I'm capable of handling higher level content before going to school.

Do they place higher weight on the pre-req classes compared to other relevant science classes? For example, I know that having an F then a B in orgo isn't the best but if I get an A/B in Biochem afterwards would that hold equal weight to the organic class?

Sorry I know there are a lot of questions but I don't want a bad year to spoil my chances of getting into my first, second, or even third choice school, ya know? I'm handling everything else like work experience and LOR just fine but this year really screwed a lot of things up.

Thanks a ton for the help!


Answer:
Doing well in your advanced coursework will help you. Explaining the events that caused the poor grades is an absolute must. If you have an advisor or mentor who can attest to family issues as the reason for academic difficulties, having them do so in a letter of recommendation would benefit you tremendously.

Every cycle there we review the files of a handful of applicants who have some pretty significant extenuating circumstances which caused major hardships that affected their transcripts.  When an applicant does an exemplary job of explaining the reasons for this in their statement and interview, I think AdComs are often impressed with the applicant's perseverance and give them the benefit of the doubt.  The onus is on the applicant, however, because without a suitable explanation such an application is often disregarded as unworthy of admission.

I wish you the best.