As some of you already know, Tehilah and I had to cut our last trip to the United States short and we had to return to Israel immediately. My Mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on the second day of Shavuot, and surgery was scheduled for the following Thursday to remove a tumor. Unfortunately, with closer examination another small growth was also found on her liver. While it was removed, the remainder of the procedure could not be completed. My mother is going to start an aggressive course of chemotherapy treatment soon and we hope and pray that she will respond well, so that other surgical procedures can help her condition in the near future. Our entire family, and especially my Mother of course, is about to start a long and difficult journey, but we pray and have great faith in Hashem, so we have every reason to hope for a positive outcome.
During the past two weeks I have received an outpouring of love and support from the entire CAS family and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It is the strength from our family and friends that sustains us at times such as this.
This new reality changes our lives and and our priorities, and we will make our choices as time progresses after evaluation of all our options. These two weeks have been the most terrible time in the life of our family and we are praying to Hashem for help and guidance. I have learned that we have to live "day by day" and live each day to the fullest, as it may be the last one we have.
Our sages tell us that God tests those who can bear the trials and tribulations that we encounter. I am not sure what that means or how much comfort it brings, but I would like to think that we will come out of this experience even stronger than before, and that we will learn something valuable from it.
Thank you all for everything you do for us. Please keep my Mom, Yehudit Pini Idit Bat Malka in your prayers.
Arik Wollheim
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