Two years ago, “Sara Cohen”, a mother of five. received the worst news of her life: her 10 year old son “Moshe” had cancer. The doctors said the chance of him surviving wasn’t great, but if he met with a certain specialist in Tel Aviv, he would have a better chance. The problem was this doctor had a waiting list 6 months long, time Moshe didn’t have to spare. Sara called up Darchei Miriam and after they made a few calls,her son had a meeting with the specialist only 3 days later, which ultimately saved his life.
Besides the physical disease, going from hospital to hospital was very difficult for Sara because she doesn’t have a car and there is no bus service near her home which goes to the hospital. She was forced to pay for expensive taxi rides. Once again Darchei Miriam stepped in and arranged private transportation for her, giving her the peace of mind she needed to be able to continue tending to her son while taking care of her other four kids at home. They even had food and coffee prepared for her so she could focus on her son with a clearhead. Because taking care of Moshe was a full time job, Sara wasn’t able to work, causing severe financial hardship to her family. Darchei Miriam helped her financially through the hard times. Not only was Moshe’s life saved, but his entire family never collapsed.
In Israel, there are countless cancer patients like Moshe who need help and whose family would be lost without Darchei Miriam. This wonderful organization was started by Rabbi Yisrael Weingarten in honor of his wife Miriam who died from cancer in 2002. He experienced firsthand a system with large holes in it.. For example, some life saving medicines are very expensive and not covered by national health insurance. He saw people foregoing crucial treatment for only one reason: they couldn’t afford it. Darchei Miriam has saved many lives by subsidizing these procedures for the poor.
Addressing the human aspects of cancer is no less important to recovery. While Israel has some of the top doctors and specialists in the world, the wait lists can be long and mired in bureaucracy. Darchei Miriam makes sure that cancer patients move to the front of the line. For patients and their family who need transportation for medical care, the organization provides them free door to door service. They also help financially families who have lost income due to caring for a relative. Furthermore, Rabbi Weingarten saw that patients who were lonely were more likely to die, so he started a volunteer buddy system. The volunteers are themselves former cancer patients who are able to provide high levels of emotional support and understanding that only someone who went through it can give.
Because Darchei Miriam provides such crucial services to Klal Yisrael, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, gives his personal bracha that anyone who gives to them should have abundant wealth, health, and that they should never have to experience a family member being hospitalized with the dreaded disease. To learn more about receiving the Gadol Hador’s bracha, click here.
Names in “quotation” are not real names