Cancer! What a word. The sound of it alone shivers the soul. Although every major illness creates the same reaction, I am most familiar with cancer. I know its nightmare best. I am a medical sociologist who has lost two children to cancer: Valerie at 9 and Stacy at 37. I have endured the illnesses…
My husband Ed and I along with most of our extended family and friends will celebrate the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, with dinner at our home. On the eve of the holiday, we will light yahrzeit candles in memory of our loved ones who have died. I will also recite one of the…
THE VALERIE FUND is 40 years old! And so, in honor of our wonderful nonprofit foundation established in memory of our younger daughter Valerie, Ed and I gave a speech at THE VALERIE FUND’s eleventh WALK/RUN. It was held at Verona Park in Verona, New Jersey this past June 11th. We had loads of sunshine, we spoke in…
The following true story happened a year or so before our younger daughter Valerie was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone cancer. I have never forgotten it since it demonstrates the hold that memory sometimes has on time. ∞∞∞ Dressing for Aaron’s Bar Mitzvah was hazardous duty with my two little kids around and I…
A few weeks after I finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a 2010 biography by Rebecca Skloot, an article in the Newark Star-Ledger popped into my head. The article, about McKenna Claire Wetzel, and written by Sandy Kleffman in 2012, was headlined Killer Cells donated to find a cure for other youngsters. I…