Bilah Rochman was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia almost three years ago. She fought dearly for her life through chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation and defeated her leukemia but then sadly developed severe intractable graft versus host disease and died in February of 2009. She was only 55 years old.

During her illness she was hospitalized for many months in the Bone Marrow and Hemato-Oncology Departments at Israel's Rabin Medical Center's Davidoff Cancer Center, where she received expert and compassionate care from the medical team of physicians, nurses and other staff. The nurses were especially heroic in their loving, caring dedication to Bilah. Her brother, Dr. Mark Jacobson, who lives in the USA, felt that she would have wanted to give something back to these amazing people. He therefore established the Bilah Rochman Memorial Fund and pledged to raise funds to provide these nurses with additional training and support for dealing and coping with the terribly ill patients who are in their care.

The loss of a loved one is never easy, especially after so much suffering and pain, yet there is some comfort in knowing that the nurses who care for patients such as Bilah will be given additional help on this difficult journey with their patients. Dr. Jacobson has chosen to remember his sister not only in his heart, but through this memorial fund. In Dr. Jacobson's own words, "I knew that something had to be done to give meaning to my sister's death"

You are welcome to join this initiative and donate additional funds for this worthy cause that supports the professional development and enrichment of hemato-oncology nurses at the Davidoff Center.