 "I Know Their Pain" Printed with permission from "The Chesed Boomerang" by Jack Doueck www.judaicapress.com On November 15, 1994, my friend, Steve Shor, told me about his son Meir. In 1990, Meir had been in a car accident. The hospital informed the family that, after testing his blood, they realized he had a severe case of leukemia. He was only fifteen. Steve closed his successful contracting business and, for two years, searched for a bone marrow donor to save his son. Finally, he found a donor. The one-in-twenty-thousand odds of finding a match were overcome. Just on the eve of the transfusion, for no apparent reason, the donor backed out. Meir died three months later at the age of seventeen. How did Steve Shor respond to the death of his son? Was it with bitterness? With hatred and anger? No. Steve decided to "put himself out" and dedicate the rest of his life to helping children who were stricken with Leukemia. He created the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation. He won the support of famous actors and actresses, politicians, professional athletes, and even Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. He has been written up in the papers as a man who has helped thousands of children. He told me: "When I see other children with the deadly disease –– I see my son Meir. When I visit with the families, be they black, Hispanic or whatever, I feel like they’re a part of my family. I need to help them. I know their pain — first hand! I feel that their child is my Meir and it is happening all over again." Steve discovered a way to prevent some of the more than forty-five thousand deaths of children with Leukemia each year, as well as the deaths of thousands of breast cancer patients. He found out that if the hospital was able to save the umbilical cord of newborn babies, and remove the blood stem cells and use these for Leukemia victims, almost countless lives can be saved each year. He is now raising the money to purchase freezers and computer systems for hospitals, so they can save the cords and help save lives. Steve Shor has taught me a lesson about the power of chesed to enrich lives ––– and transform suffering into productive and meaningful work.
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