S., 42, is a nurse from Sderot who was diagnosed in August with invasive breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and is currently undergoing chemotherapy which will be followed by radiation treatments. She is single, lives alone (her parents have both died,) and she has been too sick to work since beginning treatment. She has used up most of her paid sick leave from work and will soon begin taking an unpaid leave. The amount she will receive from national insurance is barely enough to make ends meet. The Lemonade Fund is happy to help ease S.’ financial situation so that she can concentrate on healing and recovery. She will receive her grant money next week.
N., 54, is an Arab-Israeli seamstress from Tayibe. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and was treated with a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. After treatment, she returned to her job in a factory and worked there until it closed down, after which she was unable to find new work. She is single and has been living with a sister. Recently she was diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer which metastasized to her bones and elsewhere. She is being treated aggressively but according to her physician, her prognosis is ‘very grave.’ The Lemonade Fund was created to assist breast cancer patients who find themselves in dire financial straits while they are undergoing treatment which will hopefully lead to recovery. (‘No one should have to be both very sick and very poor.’) Thankfully, due to advances in medical science, more patients are surviving breast cancer and many are able to return to their normal routines; are able to go back to work. But what of the patient for whom recovery isn’t likely? Though bittersweet, the Lemonade Fund is humbly grateful that it can reduce extraneous hardship during a terminal patient’s final days. We are praying for her recovery, and we hope that N. will have her load lightened by the grant that she’ll receive next week.
