First of all, I'm really sorry to hear about your family situation. :-( I hope that your path forward will allow you to spend quality time with your parent as you go through med school. A strong support network of family and friends would help you greatly through this, and if one is available, I would encourage you to use it to the fullest.
To answer your question, I think you can absolutely match into a good program without a research year. You may be a bit less competitive (but not a priori hopeless) for the very top ranked programs, but you could help that by doing a number of small projects through med school, and perhaps a bigger project early in your MS4 year, as well as making connections with people who can advocate for you. I would also advise you to prioritize your grades especially in MS3 and your Step I score over research, because those still seem to be the main determinants of one's success (see recent threads on this forum for more).
I would also advise you to keep a broad perspective of specialties, and allow yourself to become interested in other specialties if you do find them more appealing to you. Almost everyone I know changed their mind a few times between MS1-MS4, some in pretty radical ways.
Best of luck in your journey!
