Tag Archive | Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

My Friend’s Story – Leukemia: Rosh Hashanah & Remembrance

Happy Jewish New Year to Old Friends & New Family

September 24 was the first day of Rosh Hashanah this year, which ends at sundown tonight. As noted in my 9/24/14 post, it was also my 62nd birthday—the first adult birthday I have been truly grateful for.

Sadly, my childhood friend, Sandee, did not live to see her 62nd birthday. As detailed in my previous posts about her, as well as in the story of finding my sister after 50 years, Sandee and I met when we were seven—just at the time I “lost” my baby sister. My Sister’s Story – Adoption & Reunion had a happy ending. My Friend’s Story – Leukemia did not.

Sandee died four years ago tomorrow, on September 27, 2010 (at age 57) of an insidious blood cancer— just after Rosh Hashanah had started that year. And just one year after my sister came back into our lives. No one was more gleeful about that event than Sandee—especially when she learned that my sister had been raised Jewish! 🙂

But Sandee’s story is only partially tragic. She lived joyously, and one of her sisters told us that, as she lay dying, Sandee said that she had loved her life. She was truly blessed and gave everyone who knew her big dollops of her happy life energy.

One of the proofs of the gift that was Sandee is her legacy of four beautiful grandchildren. Just yesterday, right in the middle of the new year, I received this card from her daughter in Israel:

As hard as it is to mourn the passing of my childhood friend, it is easy to rejoice in the part of her that lives on through her and her husband, Mitch’s, children and grandchildren.

Happy New Year 2014 to my Jewish friends and family. May you know as much joy as Sandee did during her shortened life on earth. And may you leave as wonderful and inspiring a legacy as she did.

Please also visit Mitch’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fund-Raising Page.

My Friend's Story – Leukemia: More Information on Blood Cancers

Apr22

Every 4 minutes, someone in the US is diagnosed with a blood cancer; approximately every 10 minutes, someone dies from it. Nearly 150,000 new cases are expected this year.

In the April 19, 2014 post, I wrote a brief remembrance of my childhood friend, Sandee, who died of leukemia in 2010 just before her 58th birthday. In that post, I included a message from her husband, Mitch, who asked people to support his fundraising efforts (described in the post). Sandee left behind not only a bereft husband, but also three wonderful grown children; two (at the time) grandchildren; a mother who would herself die of lymphoma soon after her daughter; a mother-in-law who would also soon die of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; three siblings; many nieces and nephews, a large extended family; and many, many friends. I have had two other friends with blood cancers as well, one of whom died and one of whom, thankfully, is still with us. But even sadder still are the stories of children who suffer with and die from blood cancers.

About a month ago, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) called and asked me to be a neighborhood volunteer, delivering information to immediate neighbors asking them to consider donating to the fight against blood cancers. Yesterday, I hand-delivered LLS envelopes to some of my neighbors’ mailboxes, but electronic media are so much more far-reaching. So I ask anyone who sees—and shares—this post to please consider supporting this worthy society, as well as the many other organizations that are fighting cancers—and gradually winning the battles. Let’s help win the war.

This PDF—Leukemia & Lymphoma Society_Information on Blood Cancers—contains useful information about potential signs and symptoms of blood cancer, such as

Unexplained anemia (Sandee actually had a known blood problem from 20 years ago, the treatment for which eventually led to leukemia)
Excessive bleeding
Chronic fatigue (one of Sandee’s most prominent symptoms)
Recurrent fever (another one of Sandee’s most prominent symptoms)
Unexplained back or bone pain
Pain in joints or bones
Recurrent infection
Swelling of lymph nodes
Weakness
Easy bruising

For further information on possible causes and how donations are spent, please see the PDF and visit LLS and LLS Team in Training. Additional resources are listed here.

Thank you!

I previously wrote about Sandee on what would have been her 61st birthday in the 12/6/13 post. Also see the April 19, 2014 post for her husband’s message.

My Friend’s Story – Leukemia: Remembering Her at Passover

Apr19

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real…. – Mitch Kline

SANDRA CRESPY KLINE

12/6/52–9/27/10

I wrote about Sandee, who died three-and-a-half years ago of leukemia, on what would have been her 61st birthday (see the 12/6/13 post).

This post comes from her husband, Mitch, who is actively engaged in fund-raising efforts to cure blood cancers. Shortly after Sandee’s death in 2010, he lost his mother-in-law, Miriam, to lymphoma and his own mom, Dorothy, to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Dear Family and Friends:

It has now been over 3 years since I lost my guiding star. It was never a secret that my Sandee was the love of my life, my soul mate, my best friend. And, there is not a day that goes by that I don’t ask myself the same 2 questions: – What could I have done to have changed the ending to our love story? – What could I have done to have kept my promise to my girl—that I would always take care of her?

As I try to search for the answers to these questions, I will also continue to try to help others who are stricken with blood cancers so that they will continue to celebrate their birthdays and wedding anniversaries; “bust” with pride and enjoyment at seeing their children succeed and achieve; and watch in amazement the birth and growth of their grandchildren.

To help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), I have joined up with Team in Training (TNT), and I will once again be participating in the Philly TriRock Triathlon on June 22, 2014. It is my third “try at the Tri,” and through your incredible support and generosity in the past 2 years I have been able to raise $17,000.

My goal for this year is to raise $8,000, which will give us a 3-year total of $25,000. Ironically, this also happens to be the 25th year that TNT has partnered with LLS, so it is only fitting.

As I continue to try to make my beautiful Sandee proud of me, please help me to honor my Special Girl (leukemia), my Mom Dottie (non Hodgkin’s lymphoma), and my Mother-in-Law Miriam (lymphoma) by contributing to “our cause” and helping me to reach my goal.

Let’s work together in this fight so that others may never know the pain and heartbreak of blood cancers.

Thank you so much for your generosity.

Best wishes,

Mitch Kline & Family