blog

Article about Breathing Deep

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:40:48 +0100

When Breathing Deep was finally available on Lulu.com I published an article on hubpages with the help of Liane Shalev.
Publishing on hubpages exposes Amy's book and site to a wide target audience. It also generates potential revenue as we share in the adsense profits accumulated when visitors click on ads on our hubs. Click here to visit the breathing deep hub.

Feedback about Breathing Deep

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:23:56 +0100

Andrea Dray April 6th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

Dear Amy,

Your book was written so tenderly, so beautifully, so full of emotion. From the first page to the last I read between my tears. Amy, you give the term positive outlook a whole new meaning. You’re an inspiration AND one fantastic writer!! May G-d bless you and your family with good health for the rest of your lives.

Andrea
Lonnie April 9th, 2009 at 8:51 pm

I loved your book Amy.
“Breathing Deep” is a remarkably well written book that gives insight to a disrupted life of a cancer patient and her family.
The voices of the family express the deep pain, frustration, fear, and destruction that cancer brings with it. The children experience the absense of mom, and Moti, Karen, and Ruth all battle with the fear of Amy maybe not surviving the disease.
Amy’s narrative about the painful and tiring treatment program, and her ongoing struggle to defeat the cancer, is written with painful truth, but yet with such humor and wit that one can only admire her powerful determination to regain her health, and to become released from hospital.She is so brave and strong. The defeat of the cancer, and her return to her beloved family offer great hope and inspiration to the reader, and to people suffering from this terrible disease. Courage, hope, and belief can move mountains.
Amy, we love you, and you are a true inspiration to all of us. I wish you all the best, and I hope that “Breathing Deep” will bring you success both as a book, and as a fundraising event.
As you told me, cherish the moment, because this is all that matters….
Love Lonnie.
Ineke April 20th, 2009 at 8:09 am

Amy, while reading your book I realised that time has passed and made me forget some of the things that happened during your battle with cancer. I loved reading the book and finished it in one go. It was written beautifully.
Remember you are a survivor, you are here to live your life to the fullest with Moti, Danielle, Adi and Joel.
Do so!
Love you, Ineke
Silja April 24th, 2009 at 9:37 am

I finished your book last night, laughing and crying along. Now Yaron is reading it - the first English book since his school days, I suppose. You write so well it’s easy to become totally immersed. No way to put the book down. We remember the time very well, Yaron had some conversations with Moti he remembers, and I adore your mother…
keren April 27th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

סיימתי את הספר והרגשתי שעברתי את המסע הזה יחד אתכם.

אפילו שהספר מתאר רק את “קצה הקרחון” של הטיטאניק שעברתם, התיאורים שבו, הכנות, הרגישות, הפחדים ועצמת הרגשות שעולה מכל דמות בספר, הופכים את הקריאה לחוויה רגשית ומחשבתית.הספר נותן השראה ,כוחות נפש והמון הערצה לך איימי, לך מוטי, לאמא רות המדהימה, לקרן ולכל מי שסביבכם שעזר ועוזר.

גם כשעשיתי הפסקות בקריאה (כדי שאצליח לקום ביום שלמחרת), הספר המשיך ללוות אותי במשך היום וחיכיתי להגיע כבר לרגע בו אוכל להמשיך ולקרוא.

אני מאמינה שהספר רק צריך להגיע לידיים הנכונות והוא יכול לפתוח לבבות (וארנקים).
Lauren Gelman May 6th, 2009 at 10:56 am

Amy,
Last night at 23:00 I sat down to start reading “Breathing Deep”. At 00:45 I finished reading the whole book in one sitting. I cried and laughed, cried some more, and sighed deep sighs of understanding and empathy.
I’ll never forget Karen at one of our book club meetings standing up and saying (shouting) “My beautiful 37 year old sister has Lymphoma!” I received regular updates from Elizabeth, so although we’ve never met, and specially after reading your book, I feel like we’re friends. Thank you for allowing me into your life. The book was written with deep insight and very candidly. I could identify with so much of your spiritual enlightenment, having been in a different yet similar place myself. We do grow from tragedy and hardship. May you be strong and healthy, in body and spirit. You are an amazing person, with such goodness in you that you are sharing with so many.
With lots of love, Lauren
nadine May 10th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

Shalom. Jane gave me a copy of your book as a present for Pesach.

I started reading it when she left and could not put it down. The book is amazing. It expresses so succinctly the
emotions/thoughts one is having yet no one wants to discuss them. I am sending the book to my sister in South Africa who I know is very concerned about my diagnosis especially as I had breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago. The book is a great comfort and a very easy read. Keep up
your hard work.
Rahel June 21st, 2009 at 9:28 pm

Dear Amy,

Finally I came around to read your book too… I could hardly put it out of my hands- at some points laughing at some points almost crying. Thanks a lot for sharing your story with us! I wish you and your family all the best for the future!
Love, Rahel

Concert with Ohad Hitma and Adi Cohen April 19, 2009

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:00:24 +0100

After many weeks of planning, advertising, organizing and worrying, the eve of the fund raising concert with Ohad Hitman and Adi Cohen was finally upon us. And what beautiful evening it was…Over 200 guests gathered from neighboring kibbutzim and settlements, and from as far as Tel Aviv at the Megiddo Regional Council Hall on April 17th 2009, to contribute to the Empathy Fund.

We began with the launch of my book Breathing Deep, while a delicious punch was served on the house (donated by the Dalia Winery with thanks) as well as delicious cakes and sweets (donated by Lev B’kfar with gratitude). My daughter Danielle and niece Eden lovingly helped with the sales while I signed the books – what a blast that was! So many warm faces – friends, family and new acquaintances all joined to support the cause. I looked forward to the evening ahead.

After a few nerve-wracking moments on stage to introduce Ohad Hitman and the lovely Adi Cohen, as well as Eran on the organ and Doron Mizrachi on the guitar, I settled in to enjoy the show.

Ohad and Adi gave it all they had! They sang with their whole hearts, reaching out to the audience who responded immediately to their tremendous talent. Eran and Doron excelled, Doron was a virtuoso on the guitar, accompanying Ohad who sang songs from both of his recent discs. Adi’s songs grew wings and took flight throughout the hall, leaving us all wanting more. Their generosity was overwhelming. I thank you with all of my heart, Ohad and Adi!!!

We raised 13000 Shekels! A major thank you to all those who volunteered to helped get this evening off the ground:Inbal on the punch, Ahuva and Lili at the cash, Anat for the graffics and Karen, my soul-sister, for all of the great ideas, leg work and computer brain power

Below is a photoalbum of the event.

Were you at the concert? We’d love to hear your feedback!
Thank you,

Feedback collected from previous website.

Ineke: Amy, I enjoyed the concert immensly! Since then I am a big fan of Ohad! His performance was great, I loved his talks in between the songs with his humor. There was a nice atmosphere in the hall and I was sorry that the evening finished.
Ineke

Lonnie: It was a well organized evening with great music and entertainment. Ohad was so cute, he was so alive and otzmati, I just loved his sense of humor “thanks to Nehemia”…… Adi was truly amazing. The talk about his last song was so funny. You looked nice in your litte black dress and you delivered a nice and touching speech at the stage.

Dudu and Viki: Amy, ,me & my wife enjoyed the concert of ohad & adi they both sang from their hearts i most liked to hear ohads humor between and during the songs. we enjoyed the show and the great performance of ohad ,adi,doron&eran and- we didnt want the evening to end.
DUDU & VIKI
ATTAR.

Silja The concert was wonderful and we all enjoyed it very very much. Your speech was very good (you spoke slowly and sounded totally relaxed, in case you were afraid that you sounded stressed out! you really didn’t), and so was the whole evening. We heard people afterwards all saying it was such a special evening. I’m sure everybody told you so already so I have to add my voice to the chorus

Rebuilding Lives Award

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:56:58 +0100

In 2007 I was nominated as a candidate for Roche’s Rebuilding Lives Award Campaign, a global award sponsored by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, encouraging recovered lymphoma patients to share their experiences and positive attitudes. The chosen entries were submitted to a global panel of judges. I was one of three winners, and I won a grant towards fulfilling my dream of writing a book to raise awareness about lymphoma! The following year I was invited to be a panel member, to judge the next group of nominees and to read excerpts from my near completed book. Ohad Hitman was our Israeli nominee! Motty, Ohad , Amira from Roche and I all had a blast wonderful time together in Vienna. The feedback at the ceremony on the draft of the book was unforgettable. Here is a slideshow from my event.

Computers from Empathy Fund For Rambam Hospital

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:53:46 +0100

With the money raised for the Empathy Fund from Dalia's market and we were able to purchase 5 computers for cancer patients at Rambam. Some treatments require isolation in order to protect from dangerous viruses. Mobile computers allow access to the outside world such as an online visit with family and friends. Anything to break the cycle of depression and helpless while in treatment. A DVD movie collection for the computers was also donated at the same time.

Daliya Market September 2007

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:51:28 +0100

Kibbutz Dalia held a market to raise money for the Empathy Fund, the foundation that I established in order to raise the quality of life for cancer patients and their families while in treatment. What an incredible gathering we had. 85 volunteers pulled together to get this project off the ground. Raffles, crafts, antiques, jewelry, angels, books, clothes, plants, pottery and delicious food- everything could be found here. It was a beautiful day. We raised 15000 Shekels thanks to the help of many great people. Click on the pictures below to see the 2007 event!

The Second Annual Fund raising Market on Dalia 2008: We took advantage of the flowering spring season to open our second market. Now with a reputation behind us, vendors returned to sell their wares. This time we raised 25000 NIS.

Bandana Therapy March 27

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:42:31 +0100

Bandana Therapy was an idea that came to me as a solution to distract cancer patients while in their chemotherapy treatment. With the help of Ada Baron from Kibbutz Dalia, we organized the bandana materials and paints for patients to use as the chemo did its job. The activity was a great success and continued to run for several weeks.

I would come straight from my own Radiation Therapy, for my lymphoma, camera in hand, and get a thrill at seeing the splashes of color, swatches of material draped off of trolleys and I.V. poles as they dried. Best of all were the smiling faces.
Here is a slideshow of cancer patients working on their bandanas during treatment.

Giving Back: The Beginning December 2005

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:29:02 +0100

I had made it through treatment! What gift could we bring to Rambam to show our gratitude? Something to make another patient smile, was what I had in mind. Motty built a mobile magazine library unit for the Outpatient Clinic, and we collected hundreds of magazines of all types and in several languages from whoever was willing to give them. The unexpected wonderful thing that occurred, is that patients and families also began contributing to the library, bring in magazines and keeping the library perpetually updated with fresh periodicals. From here other ideas began to evolve.

Me, Mom and Alfred next to Magazine Rack