My wife Shoshi has always been my hero – but I never knew how strong she was until this year. It was a regular shabbos morning, and the kids were playing in the living room, when she asked me to come speak with her in another room. “Something’s wrong,” she told me. Her stomach was swollen, huge, like she was 9 months pregnant even though she wasn’t expecting. I suggested all sorts of explanations, but she insisted that something didn’t feel right. We went to the emergency room, expecting to clarify that all was fine and go home. But the doctors looked at her and said, “Pack your bags for the hospital.” Within hours it was confirmed: Cancer. Immediately, Shoshi began treatments to save her life. She of course left her job, and I took over watching the kids full time. With no job, it became impossible to afford babysitters. With no babysitters, it became impossible to keep a job. This was just the first of many similar catch-22s. Full days were lost taking the bus to the hospital, waiting in lines, and bussing back late at night. Neighbors grew tired of taking our kids in, and sometimes we all had to travel in together. It was a logistical nightmare – This is where Darchei Miriam came in. We heard about Darchei Miriam through a family friend. We signed up, were approved, and it seemed like they read our minds. They delivered hot meals, when all we had had for a week was pizza. They drove Shoshi to the hospital, so I could stay home with the kids. They helped us find babysitters, so I could go back to work and pay our bills.  Cancer tears your life, your world, your family apart. And you can’t do it alone. I don’t know where we would be today if it weren’t for Darchei Miriam. How much help we, and the families like us, will get depends on how much Darchei Miriam’s monthly fund raises. And so I am asking you, as a young father who is struggling to hold up the world on his own – please give if you can. If you would treat a family you knew to a shabbos meal, or a ride to the hospital, or a babysitter, please donate here to help families like ours get those things. It’s the difference between a difficult situation, and an unlivable one. And, Gd willing, in the zechus of your donation, Hashem should keep your family safe, healthy, and secure.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. Mordy Levinson* Donations here go to the many families like the Levinsons who rely on help from Darchei Miriam to function. Right now is an especially difficult time – the immunocompromised are especially limited in terms of how they can safely travel & work, and the chagim are expensive. Many of them are desperate.  Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky has also expressed his public support for Darchei Miriam and extends his blessing to all those who donate that they should merit material abundance, contentment and that no member of their household should become ill.   Readers who are interested in joining this essential and unfortunately increasingly relevant cause can do so here. *Details have been changed for the families’ privacy
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