Hospital Miracle

My daughter was born with a chronic illness, which was unfortunately transmitted through me during pregnancy. As a consequence, starting from the age of 6 months old, my husband and I became frequent visitors of specialists in Columbia and Cornell New York Presbyterian Hospital. Our precious daughter had to go through numerous blood tests, sonograms and biopsies. As a mother I carried unbearable pain, feeling guilty for ‘giving’ this condition to my child. I clearly remember that in the
beginning, when we first got the horrific news of the illness, I
turned to G-d and prayed to heal my child. I cried many sleepless
nights for a miracle. 

Meanwhile, a group of prominent doctors were working on our case. As we were running out of options, the team of specialists offered a treatment option, but it was not meant for
patients of such a young age. The team of specialists was convinced that we had to start the experimental procedures as soon as possible. They proposed a treatment that consisted of two different painful shots twice a day, which caused unbearable side effects. The doctors made it very clear to us that this treatment was an experimental drug and did not hold the FDA approval.

We felt hopeless yet pressured to make a decision. As a mother, I was so desperate to help my child that I was ready to sign the waiver, but my husband felt differently. He was evaluating all the risks and benefits. It upset me tremendously that he did not rush to make the final decision to proceed with the treatment. Doctors needed both parents’ consent. My husband managed to convince me to take some time and think things through.I was hoping that soon enough the treatment would be approved by FDA
for the use on small children, while my husband’s theory was not to take the risk but to trust that G-d will do wonders. He kept saying that what we needed to do was pray harder, go for regular doctor’s appointments, and focus on doing good deeds. As we took our child for semi-annual blood tests, yearly sonograms and biopsies, we kept researching new treatments that were available.

Years went by but nothing was changing. We were still dealing with fear for our daughter's life. On January 2007, we had an appointment in NY Presbyterian. Our daughter was six years old, attending 2nd grade at a private Jewish school. Before we left home, I told my husband to take $500 in cash with us, planning to drop it off at the school later that day to pay for tuition fees. I was always carefully putting money aside, dollar by dollar. We worked extremely hard to make ends meet in order to pay for school I had to put money away on a weekly basis.

We came to the hospital and waited for our turn to see the doctor. I saw in the waiting room one religious-looking woman with her son who was sitting in a stroller. The boy was around nine years old, bold and pale. Right away, I understood that he was a cancer patient. His mother was anxiously walking back and forth; from receptionists to the waiting room, asking people for something. Finally, she came up to us and said that she needed to borrow some money. My husband seemed patient and calm as he asked her how much she needed. She said that she needed $10 to go back home to Lakewood. My husband, to my surprise, suggested that $10 would not be enough. The lady seemed to agree and said that since she does not come to the city too often, it was a good idea to use time wisely and to apply for a Birth Certificate and Social Security for her son as well, since she never got a chance to apply before.

At this point, I thought to myself, what a nerve this lady had. Not only did she ask for money but she was sharing her plans for errands to run at our expense! I felt like we were part of some dramatic play. Everyone was looking at us. The entire waiting room knew what the woman was asking because that is what she requested from them as well.She came up to every one of them to ask for money but nobody offered to help. To my shock, my husband took out a $10 bill then from the other pocket he pulled a $100 bill that was intended for school. I was beyond angry. The lady thanked us and promised that she would send us the money via mail. The entire office watched this ‘transaction’ as my
husband said to her “I am happy to help. We are Jews and we need to help each other in hard times”.

She took the money, looked into my eyes and said “I know we are all here in this pediatric department of the hospital for a reason…. it is because our children are sick. I bless you that when you go to see the doctors, you will be given wonderful news about your daughter, since you just did a great deed”. Then she sat in her chair and started knitting. Meanwhile, the receptionist called our name and we went to the examination room to speak to the team of the doctors.

We were nervous wrecks. Even though I was still furious with my
husband, when we entered the examination room, I decided not to talk about the incident and to rather focus on our child instead. Every year the blood count and sonograms were hinting the approach of the most horrific diagnoses, an early stage of cancer. When the doctors came in and saw our daughter’s recent blood test, their faces changed. They couldn't believe what was happening. It took them about 20 minutes, the longest 20 minutes of our lives to finally tell us what was going on.

To our complete shock, the
doctors started congratulate us, explaining that our daughter’s blood count
went up and she was no longer sick! We were speechless as the doctors literally
applauded our family. They asked what we did between the visits. We were so confused and
shocked that we could not even speak. These were the same people who suggested the experimental treatment as the only means so save our daughter and now we were asked
from the same doctors about what we possibly did other than the original
treatment that we refused….
We walked out from the office speechless. The same lady was still
sitting in the chair. She saw us, got up, took the carriege and walked with us to the elevator. It seemed that she was waiting with us to leave. When we all arrived at the 1st floor, she looked at our happy and extremely shocked faces, smiled back and said nothing. She walked in front of us and we followed her to the exit door. Completely absorbed by our thoughts,I got out of the building just to realize that all of a sudden the
woman was nowhere in sight, as if she literary disappeared. We rushed outside looked both ways but never saw her again.

Five days later, we received a letter with the check for $110 and a 'thank you' note with the explanation of how she ended up in the city without money. This was a very sincere 3-page letter that made me feel so special for being able to help this woman. 

As I questioned if she was a stranger or a guardian angel that came save our child, I put this special letter in a safe place with all our important documents. Yet,I was faced with another surprise when after a year I couldn't find the letter. Interestingly, all the other documents were there at the exactly same place except that letter. How odd is that?

It has been four year since our daughter is ‘disease free’ with good blood results. We are still required to do the annual blood tests and sonograms, yet I know in my heart that her results will be good. The doctors still cannot understand and explain what exactly happened. They call her a ‘miracle baby’.

We Jews believe that kindness and charity are the pillars that a
change a person’s destiny. We witnessed that to be true!

I must admit that I probably would be skeptical if I read this story about someone else….but it happened to my family and my own daughter is a true example of such an awesome miracle.

by Leah Levy-Aulov