Ezer Mizion

It’s hard to smile when you hurt. It’s hard to smile when you’re scared. It’s hard to smile when a monster named Cancer has taken over your life and nothing is the same as it used to be.

My friends are in school, all together, following a normal routine…feeling safe. And me, I’m lying on a hospital bed tense – scared that a lady in a white coat will come in again to do a painful IV and scared, very scared, about something that I cannot even say, can’t even let myself to think about.

My parents try to encourage me but I can see, especially when they think I’m not looking, that they’re frightened, too. Mommy said her allergies were bothering her but I know that her eyes were red, not from allergies but from crying. Crying about me.  About how hard the chemo treatments are and also about…about my future. Last night Abba (Daddy) stayed with me. In the middle of the night when he thought I was sleeping, I heard a sob. I’ve never heard Abba cry before. 

I feel a little smile coming on. I haven’t smiled in so long, it feels strange. I heard the news just last night that Ezer Mizion will be taking me and all the oncology clinic kids on a trip to Mt. Hermon. Can you believe it! All that snow! Sledding! Tobogganing! Fun, fun, fun!

Those trips that Ezer Mizion provides really help. There’s lots of them.  And parties, too. My friends and I talk about them for weeks. We laugh over the pictures. Some of them are so funny. And, you know what, I heard one of the doctors say to my parents that my numbers are so much better long after an Ezer Mizion trip. They really help me to fight this cancer and get well.

Ezer Mizion is there in the oncology ward 24/7 just to make sure that those smiles stay on the faces of the children and their families throughout the entire arduous process.

After treatment, the kids go to Ezer Mizion’s Oranit where there can be found every joy I child can wish for including crafts, Story Hour and even a Petting Zoo. Professional therapy is available for the patient, the parents and siblings to help them over the hump and enable them to cope. Make-a-wish trips, birthday parties, special days for Mommies help to complete the picture.

We must not forget that children who come to the oncology ward come with heartbroken parents; parents who have received the worst news a parent can possibly imagine.

Ezer Mizion warmed the hearts of these kids and their families on a cold winter day taking them to Mt. Hermon to enjoy the snow. Ezer Mizion is there to soften the blow of cancer and make this dark period as bright and warm as possible. Why? Because that’s just what we do!!

Ezer Mizion provides services to over 660,000 of Israel’s population annually in addition to its Bone Marrow Registry which saves the lives of Jewish cancer patients the world over.