Battling childhood cancer: Four-wheeling with Zichron Menachem

"Since he was diagnosed, this is my war,” Meirav Funis told me. Her 10-year-old son, Neidav, was diagnosed with leukemia in December, and they had been living at Schneider – Children’s Medical Center while he received treatment. 

I met Meirav at the Zichron Menachem annual four-wheeling trip, now in its 11th year. The Land Rover tour was located in the Ben Shemen Forest, an area full of trees, fields, and rocky terrain. Our Land Rover was number 13. Our driver’s name was Zion, and he only had one hand. He lost his other hand in an accident in the IDF. He said he doesn’t let it stop him from living his life. 

As we drove over the rocks embedded in the ground, I asked Meirav about Neidav. Meirav has four children; her oldest is 17. Their family lives in Beit Aryeh. 

The week before the trip, Neidav finished his treatment. “We beat cancer, we beat it,” Meirav said proudly. 

“Neidav is 10, but has a mind like a 50-year-old,” she said. She recounted that throughout his treatment he had stayed positive, with the understanding that there was no other option but to fight. 

“It was all in the head; there was no other option but to win.” Meirav said he knew everything that was going on, and his siblings knew as well.

When they learned that Neidav was going to lose his hair, the family threw a party. His brother, Be’eri, and his father both decided to shave their heads with Neidav so he wouldn’t be alone.

Be’eri sat with us in the Land Rover. However, Neidav was not with us because he had a fever. Part of the effects of leukemia is an extremely weak immune system. As a result of this, Neidav has not been able to attend school. Meirav believes he will catch up, though. She said that Neidav is very smart. “He learned English all by himself from TV shows,” she said proudly. 

Neidav had to undergo chemotherapy for five months. His mother confided that it had been an extremely difficult time, but that Neidav had continuously tried to be positive. Now that the treatment is over, they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

When we got out of the Land Rover, there was a barbecue waiting for us with all types of meat, salad, and chips. All the kids were handed water guns, along with the volunteers – who were either in high school or doing National Service. During the water fight, nobody was spared. Then, the volunteers led the kids in songs I knew from summer camp. One young man had drums, and others held children on their shoulders. They all stood in a circle singing and dancing while their parents sat around, talking and relaxing. There were kids of all ages, ranging from all sectors of Israeli society, from secular to haredi.

As I stood watching, I was approached by Tomer Baum, a parent I had spoken on the early morning bus ride from Schneider Hospital in Petah Tikva to the forest. 

Tomer had told me about his son Yair, who is 13 years old and was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2023. Yair was at a summer camp in the United States, but Tomer brought his son Aviv on the Land Rover tour. While Yair had been undergoing treatment at Sheba Medical Center, Aviv was very scared and stressed, Tomer explained. 

Yair’s treatment lasted six months. In addition to chemo, Yair’s doctors also attempted additional treatments. Tomer talked about the scariest day at this hospital for him, when the doctors tried to give Yair a “biologic” treatment. When the nurses left the room, Yair stopped breathing, Tomer recalled. “He turned purple.” It turned out that Yair was having an allergic reaction to the medicine, causing the doctors to immediately cease the treatment. For Tomer, it was the “worst day ever.”

Now Yair is in remission, but the next five years are crucial, a period during which the disease could reappear. Tomer said that knowing Yair had a trip to the US to look forward to during his treatment had given him hope. As Aviv was also scared and stressed during his brother’s treatment, this Land Rover trip was a way for him to have fun, relax, and be a kid, his father said.

Volunteering

I ALSO spoke to Bram, a high school student who has been volunteering with Zichron Menachem for a year and a half. As well as going on trips and helping at summer camps, he also assists individual families. 

Bram told me about a family with five children that he began helping after the outbreak of the war with Hamas. The father was on reserve duty, and the mother was studying to be a doctor. One of the kids had cancer. “It felt like the house was falling apart,” he shared. “I was just trying to hold the house together.” 

Bram said that since the war began, there have not been enough volunteers, and many who used to travel to hospitals or to help individual families could no longer do so. 

Zichron Menachem has several hundred volunteers. The organization was founded 34 years ago by Chaim and Miri Ehrental, whose son Menachem battled cancer for over 14 years. According to the founders, the organization believes that the emotional well-being of his/her family is crucial to a child’s healing process.

Zichron Menachem runs a rehabilitative educational social day center, a hospitality center for families, study programs, and clubs and workshops – as well as annual vacation camps abroad for children during winter and summer breaks, and a spring camp for parents of children with cancer. Zichron Menachem also offers family vacations and fun days throughout the year.

Another aspect of the organization’s activities is related to medical care. This includes organizing and funding various therapies and treatments, home assistance, a blood donor registry, wig-fitting, and more. Recently, it established a blood collection center for oncology patients. Additionally, for the past 12 years, in collaboration with the Pantene hair product brand, Zichron Menachem has been running the Hair for Hope project, which collects hair donations to provide free wigs for cancer patients.

When I asked Bram why he continues to volunteer, his answer was: “There is a lot of satisfaction. I can feel the effect I have on the kids.” 

He added that they also have an effect on him. “I pay more attention to what I say. I’ve become more emotionally intelligent,” he said. 

At the end of the trip, parents had to drag their kids home, sopping wet from the water fight. The volunteers, also sopping wet, grinned from ear to ear. They kept asking me, “Did you have fun?”

“Of course,” I replied. 