Letter to My Son

"Tatty, please don't forget me." Those were your words, my son, before you died and you were only seventeen. How many tears I have shed over the years remembering the look in your eyes, your pale, almost transparent skin... my Shlome... how I miss you...

For three years we have waged a bitter battle together. Three years of sleepless nights and frantic days. We got to know all the doctors who are worth anything anywhere in the U.S. We became experts in all the procedures and got to know all the pros and cons. You fought with incredible courage and, upon realizing the end was near, you decided to win the battle.

Instead of succumbing in defeat, you asked us to make this battle a victory by having it bring joy and assistance to others. Instead of making this harrowing experience a blow we'll just wish to blot from our memory, to let it be a shining cornerstone of solace and mercy for others. Instead of letting the memory of a dear, beloved child, so full of life and kindness, fade like a sepia photo, to make it last forever as a bastion of strength and true Chessed (charity).

We did it and we named it after you, Shlome.

Today, Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund is on of the largest and most active aid organizations for cancer-struck people and their families in the Jewish world. Hundreds of families, immersed in desperate anguish have been supported and encouraged. We have given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to desperately needy families. We send homemakers to enable the children to stay at home while their parents are preoccupied with the sick child's care. We brought toys and books to hospitals and spent countless hours encouraging other families, sometimes crying with them when nothing helped anymore...

As more and more families find out about Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund, the flow of requests grow by the day. And we have made it a rule never to send anyone away. We couldn't. We know how they feel.

Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund is a labor of love. There's so much to do - and so much that can be done. Today, Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund doesn't belong to us. It belongs to all the families who need it, shared by all our friends across America.

No, Shlome, we haven't forgotten you and we never will. That, of course was never a question, for how can a mother and father forget their beloved son? But we did more than that. We made it so that your memory will keep on living by giving others the gift of life and love, just the way you wanted it.

May your memory be blessed.

To help Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund continue its works click here.