cancer Archives – Kveller

They say laughter is the best medicine, but it’s hard to remember that when faced with life-threatening news. When the dermatologist first said the word “melanoma,” my mind fizzed into a… state of paralytic shock, especially as this appointment was supposed to be a standard cosmetic procedure. The grayish/blue mole that emerged from my cheek had injured my vanity, but thoughts of it being anything other than a superficial nuisance never crossed my mind. “It looks dangerous,” the dermatologist frowned, lowering her hand-held light. “I recommend… >> Read More

kugel recipes

The Only Passover Kugel That Matters to Me

Rachel Minkowsky

I was nervous. The assistant principal running late, so I sat alone in a hard chair in a Brooklyn high school guidance office. I wiped my sweaty palms on my new suit, hoping I looked older than the… students. I tried to breathe as the minutes dragged on. A redhead with wild curls peered into the office, and raised her eyebrow at me. “I’m interviewing for the guidance position,” I told her. “I’m Paulette,” she said, leaning against the doorway. “I’m a counselor, too.” By the time the assistant principal came into the… >> Read More

end of life

My Feelings About Organ Donation Were Complicated – Until This Happened

Julie Charnet

In high school, I asked my mom to let me go to a Red Cross blood drive. “Giving blood is fine,” my mother said, “but you know Jews don’t donate certain organs.” “Wait, what?” I asked,… confused. “When the Messiah comes, he raises everyone up, and we need to be buried with all of our vital organs,” she told me. “The body is sacred; it’s not ours to give away.” That seemed odd to me because, well, eventually we are dust anyway. But I certainly didn’t want to violate any more Jewish… >> Read More

sisters

When This Woman Couldn’t Get Pregnant, Her Sister Became Her Surrogate

Joanna C. Valente

There's no love like sister love. For one pair of sisters, Randi Fishman and Erin Silverman, their bond is unbreakable: the two are joined by a baby! When Maryland resident Fishman was 28 in… 2011, she received horrific news: She had breast cancer. Her diagnosis happened right after she got married and was about to start a family, crushing her pregnancy dreams. At the time, Fishman was able to her freeze her eggs and started the expensive, time-consuming process to find a surrogate. They found one and she gave… >> Read More

death & dying

My 9-Year-Old Daughter Embraced Life Until the Day She Died

Paula Skelley

Several weeks into chemotherapy and proton therapy, Lydia lost most of her hair. At 7-and-a-half my daughter was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. It turned out that her night terrors and toothache… were really symptoms of a tumor growing under the surface of her right jawbone, a tumor that started in the connective tissue. As Lydia’s hair thinned more and more, I offered to shave her head. “Are you kidding me?” she said, hand on her hip and a death-ray stare in her eyes. “It’s bad enough… >> Read More

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