[COMMUNICATED] Just a week ago… The doctor is sitting with Chaim Yosef Klein. The doctor says that the blood tests show Leukemia. It’s late stage. “Don’t worry. We have treatment for you. I’ll check you in now. You’ll be fine.” Back at home, Mommy tells five-year-old Mendy that she’s going to visit Tatty, “He’s coming right back, but I need to visit him.” In walks the babysitter.
“They can’t see me like this”
Chaim Yosef is getting hooked up to even more wires when his wife walks in. He’s already in a hospital gown, his face the color of ash. “All three kinderlach are missing you so much” Chaim Yosef cries when he hears ‘kinderlach.’
“Please come home” she say, lip quivering. “I will.”
“When I sing I feel it less”
It’s Shabbos afternoon, Chaim Yosef’s brother has brought some chulent, but neither can eat. The pain is so intense, Chaim Yosef looks like ash. “Let’s sing, I’ll feel it less.” They sing together, two brothers. “Koh Ribon… Ant Hu Melech.” “K’Chomer B’Yad HaYoitzer.” But the leukemia overpowers the Zmiros. His brother steps out to get painkillers, but when he comes back Yosef Chaim is unresponsive.
“We should bring his wife in”
Sunday night: A minyan is around Chaim Yosef Klein’s bed. The doctors can’t bare to show his wife the bleeding in Yosef Chaim’s brain. The beeping is slowing down now… Shema Yisrael!
Can Mendy read?
The entire Kehilah has come to the Levayah. Mendy understands exactly what’s going on. His two younger brothers are quiet, but he’s pink-faced from sobbing. Someone kneels next to him, holding a Kaddish card. “Mendy, can you read this for everyone?” And he begins, “Yi, Yis, Yisgadal V’Yiskadash Shmei Raba.”
Don’t Leave Mendy Alone!
Mendy, his Almanah mother, and his two siblings are all alone. Chaim Yosef worked for every penny he had and without him their future is crumbling. He was pillar of his Kehilah and the rock of his family. Now there is nothing.
But you can make a difference. Click on this link and donate now to save the Klein family from total collapse.
