{"id":409,"date":"2013-04-17T12:19:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T16:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ezermizionusa.org\/blog\/?p=409"},"modified":"2013-09-11T17:12:39","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T21:12:39","slug":"4-kids-speak-about-life-with-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/4-kids-speak-about-life-with-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Kids Speak about Life with Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Story of the Biggest Helping the Smallest<\/p>\n

\"Bennie<\/a>
Bennie Koshinsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A frightening diagnosis, loss of hair, and the constant fear that the disease would return\u2026 four children who overcame cancer with the help of bone marrow transplants facilitated by Ezer Mizion and a very strong determination\u2026
\n\u201cIt was in the middle of sixth grade when I noticed a strange lump in my armpit. At first they thought I had appendicitis but I heard the doctor say those words-the words everyone is scared of. I had questions but the biggie-you know what I mean- I couldn\u2019t even ask, not even to myself. \u201d
\nSo began the battle of 17-year-old Amit Kalmanowitz overcoming the disease no less than three times (!) in the course of just five years.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard even for me to get my head around this story even though I lived it,\u201d Kalmanowitz confesses, as he recalls the moment when he discovered that the illness had attacked his body for the third time. \u201cI was in music camp with my class, on the beach at Caesarea. At some point, I sat alone on the sand, watching the sunset. I had a gnawing, undefined bad feeling. Something was not right but I didn\u2019t understand what. It was only when I got home that I realized the cancer was back. Again. I needed treatment immediately. Being so busy was actually a good thing. It didn\u2019t let me think. About you know what. I didn\u2019t even have time to digest the fact that life may go on for all those around me but I may not be there. The trick is to know how to keep going, without self-pity and without anger. You want to get away but you can\u2019t get away. You are the cancer and the cancer is you. You understand at that moment that this is what was decreed for you and there is no place to run. You have no choice but to think positive.\u201d\"pr
\nTen-year-old Yonatan Dor from Nes-Ziona will never forget his eighth birthday. \u201cI had a hacking, dry cough,\u201d he remembers. \u201cI noticed a swollen gland in my neck and showed it to my Mom. We went to the doctor and he sent us straight to the Emergency Room. I didn\u2019t really understand what was going on, but within a few hours, I found myself already in a room, hooked up to an IV. It hurt a lot. My parents didn\u2019t want me to have to sleep with the hospital blankets, and they brought me my quilt from home, but I still was all worked up. It turned out that I had leukemia. I was really angry that this was my birthday present. I was just a little kid and didn\u2019t really understand.\u201d
\nSeven-year-old Ilai De Silva from Herzliya, his mother, and 12-year-old Binyamin Koshinsky from Petach Tikvah looked anxious to have their say. \u201cIn the case of Ilai, it was a real miracle,\u201d his mother relates. \u201cThe disease attacked him very aggressively, requiring a bone marrow transplant. There were 11 possible donors. A few days later, I received an urgent call from the nurse to come to the hospital. I drove all the way with tears blinding my eyes. I didn\u2019t know what to expect. She didn\u2019t tell me. But on the way I got another call from Ezer Mizion. The person on the other end sounded so happy. I just knew it was good news. And it was. She was calling to inform me that they have a donor. Instantly, the tears were transformed into tears of happiness. A donor! Life for my little boy!
\nDid any of you have a chance to meet the donors?
\nIlai: \u201cSure! My Mom screamed \u2018Thank you\u2019 at least 20 times and then started smothering the donor with kisses. I remember that we hugged, and she gave me a gift- a car with a remote control. She was really nice.\u201d
\nYonatan: \u201cMy donor gave me chocolate. But more important, he gave me life. I don\u2019t think there is any greater gift in the world. It\u2019s so scary to think about what would be if he hadn\u2019t registered with Ezer Mizion.\u201d
\nKalmanowitz: \u201cIn my case, finding the donor went very quickly, something like three weeks from when they started the search. I remember how excited the doctor was. She asked me to give her a kiss. I almost did. The truth is that to this day, I didn\u2019t meet the donor. It\u2019s a major step. It\u2019s not like meeting someone to play basketball. I guess I am waiting for the right timing, when I\u2019ll feel ready.\"pr
\n\u201cI FEEL LIKE A TRUE SURVIVOR\u201d
\nBinyamin joins the dialogue at this point and talks about the point when they discovered he had cancer. \u201cMy illness began when I was two and a half-years-old. I had high fever for a few days, and the doctor claimed it was a virus. Well, it wasn\u2019t a virus or the flu or any of \u2018good\u2019 diseases. It turned out that I had leukemia. When I was seven, the disease came back. But now that I have a transplant, I hope it\u2019s gone for good. Today, I\u2019m happy to say, I have gotten past it. The fear isn\u2019t there anymore. Well, not too much. I really feel that I matured.\u201d
\nWhat was the hardest moment during the treatments?
\nBinyamin: \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised. You\u2019d think I would be worried about dying but I guess that\u2019s too big a worry to handle so I focused on a littler worry: how would I handle my hair falling out. They told me it might grow back differently. I hoped I would have straight hair, not curly. It didn\u2019t exactly turn out that way\u2026\u201d
\nIlai: \u201cWhen the hair starts falling out, it was very itchy. It simply drove me batty When my Dad saw that my hair started falling out, he was ready with the haircut machine. That was a big help.\u201d
\nYonaton: \u201cThe hairs stick to every possible place except where it belongs. I was embarrassed to go out like that. I always went around with a hat.\u201d
\nThe foursome endured weeks, and even months of intensive treatments in the hospital which kept them out of school for long periods.
\n\u201cAt first it was fantastic. I loved the fact that I didn\u2019t have to do any schoolwork. But as time went by, I began to miss it more and more. It\u2019s no fun to know that you\u2019re stuck in bed or in the hospital while everyone else is having a good time,\u201d admits Ilai.
\nDid you succeed in making up the work?
\nKalmanowitz: \u201cYou are speaking to someone who missed half of sixth grade, a third of seventh, almost all of eighth, and all of eleventh. It was a crazy time. But, I\u2019m happy to say, I managed to make up all the work in a snap. The problem was more the social angle. A lot of friends used to come to visit, but still, at the end of the day, you are the one who is left to cope alone with the disease. It was like we could connect up to a point but then I was left alone-the kid with cancer-while they were leading ordinary lives.
\nBinyamin: \u201cTV became my best friend. It was no problem for me to miss school. It just freed up more time for me to watch some more series.\u201d
\nIn spite of the boys\u2019 grinning faces, it is clear that the trauma of the illness left its mark.
\n\u201cYou find yourself paranoid, checking all the time for another lump, G-d forbid,\u201d attests Kalmanowitz. \u201cIn medical lingo, they talk about needing five years of complete recovery before a person is statistically out of the woods. In my case, the cancer came back two months before the five years were up. You can\u2019t imagine what it feels like to be so close to the finish line and have to start all over again. It\u2019s like some of those games where your dice is close to the goal but then you draw a card that sends you sliding all the way back down. It was crazy!\"pr
\nWhat did you learn about yourselves as a result of the illness?
\nYonatan: \u201cI understood that everyone is different. Some people have this problem and others have that. I learned to appreciate what is going on in my body. When something works, I appreciate it. Sometimes I imagine to myself that I am competing in \u201cSurvival.\u201d I really feel like a true survivor.\u201d
\nBinyamin: \u201cI know I\u2019m capable of going through things I would never have thought I would be able to handle.
\nKalmanowitz: \u201cI learned that I am capable of walking through walls and that I have a lot more self-confidence. I was sure I was born into a life of pain and suffering, but somehow, I managed to get back on track. Today I can honestly say that I enjoy life every day anew. You won\u2019t see me getting stuck on trivialities. I learned to enjoy and appreciate the small things.\u201d
\nWhat message would you like to give other cancer patients your age?
\nYonaton: \u201cThere is a line in a song by Aviv Gefen that goes everywhere with me: \u2018It\u2019s not enough to live, you have to be alive.\u2019 You could say that this sentence summarizes everything I believe in today.
\nDo you have a message for the general public?
\nIlai: \u201cMaybe we should ask people to wake up and come register. And for those people living outside of Israel, it would be great if they could help with donations. Genetic testing costs a mint! I give part of my allowance to Ezer Mizion. It\u2019s not a game. It\u2019s to save lives. We\u2019re the lucky ones. But there\u2019s a lot of kids out there still waiting. I\u2019ve met some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

EZER MIZION \u2013 THE BIGGEST JEWISH REGISTRY IN THE WORLD
\nEzer Mizion is the largest voluntary organization in Israel in the realm of medical support. The organization\u2019s flagship projects, which it has been developing since its founding in 1979, include the International Bone Marrow Donor Registry. As of today, the Registry numbers more than 650,000 potential donors, making it the biggest Jewish registry in the world. Every year, the Registry receives thousands of search requests from Jewish cancer patients across the globe.
\nCandidates to join the registry include people in good health, aged 18-45, who have not yet joined any other such Registry. Ezer Mizion\u2019s Bone Marrow Registry has already saved the lives of more than 1,100 people and continues to so every single day. In order to continue this holy work, Ezer Mizion needs monetary assistance in funding the scanning of bone marrow samples. (The cost of scanning each sample comes to $65.)
\n\u201cThe stories of Ilai, Yonaatan, Amit, and Binyamin, illustrate in the best possible way the critical importance of Ezer Mizion\u2019s Bone Marrow Registry,\u201d says Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of the organization\u2019s Bone Marrow Registry. \u201cAll four were cancer patients who were given the gift of life thanks to compassionate people who donated to the Registry, caring people just like you.\u201d
\nFor further info: www.ezermizion.org<\/p>\n

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