You may already know that I’m training to run the Women Race 2027 this January. Running for Team Lifeline has been a dream of mine for the past two years but I’m not in this just to make my dreams come true. I’m running for something far more important. I am running to raise money for Chaiyanu/Chai Lifeline Israel, a wonderful organization dedicated to helping very sick children and their families.

I’ve been a camper at Camp Simcha for the past 3 years which I can confidently say completely changed my life. Between all the special activities and all the excitement of camp, my favorite part has always been getting to spend 2 weeks with my favorite people on earth. I’m not in this for random kids. I’ll be running for my friends.

However, just like fighting illness, I know I can’t do this alone. I need your help. Chaiyanu is a wonderful organization that provides year–round emotional, social, and financial support to more than 400 children and their families every year. Chaiyanu´s programs and activities change their lives forever, returning joy and hope and enabling them to live full and happy lives despite the presence of illness. Its most famous program is Camp Simcha and its sister, the Hope Tour. Every year these two programs offer 100 kids a chance to forget about illness and just be kids again. They get to spend 2 weeks of their year in a place where they can finally know they belong. To get a better idea of what Chaiyanu does for families, please watch the videos below.

Training will be incredibly difficult for me, but so is dealing with illness. If the children of Chaiyanu, some of my closest friends, can fight each day, if they can push themselves through hospital stays and treatment, I can do this for them.

But I can't do this without your support. I need your help to raise as much money as possible for these kids. So please help me return smiles to faces that have forgotten how. Please help Chaiyanu remind children how to be simply children, not situations. Please help normal kids like me whose lives were suddenly flipped upside down the day they heard the chilling phrase “You have cancer”. You truly have the power to be the reason that dreams will come true.

This year I have Baruch Hashem succeeded in my biggest goal since diagnosis, coming to Eretz Yisrael for seminary. I know for a fact that this would not be happening without Chai Lifeline, but more importantly without my incredible friends I’ve made throughout my journey. Making friends who are going through illness is very powerful but also sometimes can be very painful.

Yes, I’m running for myself and all the children of Chai Lifeline and Chaiyanu. But I’m running this for one particular friend more than anything else.
A year and a half ago, I had the zechus of meeting my close friend Bracha Baila through Chai Lifeline. Even with our 8 year age gap, we truly built a connection like no other. A couple weeks ago, Hashem decided that she had fulfilled her tafkid and took her back. Every dollar I raise and every step I take will be liluy nishmas Bracha Baila bas R’ Shmuel Yom Tov.

Thank you
Love, Tzipora