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Online campaign aims to help Sylvan Lake
Jews in the D
Phil and Debbi Ross
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Papa Phil Can
Online campaign aims to help Sylvan Lake O li i i t h man fi nd a kidney donor during COVID-19.
ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The stunning views from the national parks in Utah weren’t all that took Phil Ross’s breath away. During a family trip earlier this year, the 67-year-old husband, father and grandfather from Sylvan Lake found himself having trouble breathing while on sightseeing walks at higher elevations.
“I couldn’t go on hikes. I couldn’t go to the high altitudes without feeling it,” he recalled.
Upon returning home in February, Ross went to see his doctor. A series of tests revealed some devastating news — his kidneys are failing. Ross, who has had chronic kidney problems likely due to an infection as a child, was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. Doctors say he needs a kidney transplant within months or he will have to begin dialysis, a process where he’s routinely hooked up to machines to filter and purify his blood. COVID-19 has complicated his search for a donor.
“The pandemic delayed my ability to get on the transplant list because the clinics were temporarily closed. I could not get in for testing,” Ross said. “I was just recently able to make an appointment and I did get added to the list, but the wait to find a donor could take five to 10 years.”
Ross, a member of Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, does not have that kind of time. He recently retired after running a family-owned electrical supply company for most of his career and planned to travel and spend more time with his adult children and two young grandchildren. Now, finding a kidney donor is his full-time job.
His best chance for a transplant would be to find a living donor. With that in mind, family members helped launch a social media campaign called “Papa Phil Can, His Kidneys Can’t,” where people can sign up to get tested to see if they’re a match.
— PHIL ROSS
“We’re getting an outpouring of love from all of our friends and family. There’s a lot of concern,” said Debbi Ross, Phil’s wife of 40 years. “My hope is that we get in really quickly and get it done because I know COVID-19 is only going to get worse and they could close the clinic again like they did before.”
Between the online campaign, emails to friends, family members and supporters, and a few local TV appearances, about 130 people are now signed up to get tested. Phil
COURTESY OF PHIL ROSS
and his family say they’re overwhelmed and hopeful they’ll find a match soon.
“I’m blown away — I can’t believe there are that many people out there who are willing to help a total stranger. It renews my faith in humanity,” he said, fighting back tears. “I am really feeling positive we will find a match. I’m much more optimistic now.”
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 100,000 people nationwide are currently waiting for a kidney transplant. To donate a kidney, you should be 18 years or older and in good physical and mental health.
“People with kidney disease and transplant recipients are at higher risk for developing serious complications from COVID-19,” reads the National Kidney Foundation’s website.
That’s another concern. Phil and his family are taking extra precautions because getting sick now could cause a major setback.
“He’s very kind, good-natured; he’s very honest in all his dealings — and he’s very dedicated to family. He’s a family man,” Debbi said. “We don’t know who the potential donors are. It’s all confidential. But we thank them with all of our hearts.”
Phil added, “It’s life and I just want to live it. Doing something like this is a super mitzvah. I can’t express the gratitude I feel.”
If you or someone you know would like to help, visit papaphilcan.com to sign up for a blood test and find out if you’re a match.
Eretz opinion
Don’t Annex: Save the Two State Solution
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz at a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, June 28, 2020.
OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90 VIA JTA
YAEL S. ARONOFF SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Israel’s unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank could be imminent. It would be one of Israel’s greatest mistakes.
I share the life-long, deep desire of Israelis and Palestinians for peace. I am convinced that this will only happen through a twostate solution that recognizes both people’s desire for and right to self-determination. This resolution paradigm — a Jewish majority state and a Palestinian majority state existing alongside one another — has existed almost as long as the conflict itself. Although the stagnation in the peace process has undermined support for this solution, Israeli and Palestinian polls have shown over many years that both peoples prefer this solution significantly more than any other single alternative.
The temptation by some to unilaterally annex territory from the West Bank, emboldened by encouragement from the Trump administration, must be strongly and vehemently resisted by Israelis. There are no benefits, and only multiple and grave costs.
The Israeli military leadership has strongly opposed unilateral annexation, warning of likely spikes in violence, while the Palestinian Authority could dismantle itself, leaving Israel solely responsible for security in the entire West Bank. A letter dated Aug. 27, 2019, signed by 25 retired Israel Defense Force commanders and former government security heads, and addressed to four U.S. House representatives, reaffirmed the importance of rejecting unilateral steps and maintaining the two-state paradigm.
Likewise, both the Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) and the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) warn of the dangerous security consequences of unilateral annexation, including Hamas capitalizing on the vacuum left by the potential collapse of the PA; the end to the strengthening of relations with many Sunni states that has quietly been taking place over the last decade, who are Israel’s allies in balancing against Iran; and imperiling the peace agreement with Jordan. On top of that, Amos Gilad, former director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Defense Ministry, predicts a diplomatic nightmare, in which Israel becomes further isolated and ostracized by countries and populations around the world.
Deepening disillusionment could also lead to further deterioration in public support among Israelis and Palestinians for a two-state solution, which could also eventually undermine international legitimacy for this solution. Benny Gantz, Israel’s current defense minister and alternate prime minister, and Israeli’s Foreign Minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, both have warned that unilateral annexation should not happen without international backing — and that backing does not exist.
Thus, even for those whose only concern might be Israeli security and well-being, this move would be a disaster.
Israel will be left with no peace agreement, an increase in violent attacks, greater threats to its democracy, undermined legitimacy of the two-state solution, the elimination of existing Palestinian partners to peace and significantly increased threats to its legitimacy globally. Most of all, it undermines its own Zionist dream of having a democratic, Jewish state, that is also a state where all its citizens can live in peace alongside its neighbors. It also all but extinguishes legitimate Palestinian dreams of having their own state.
If the goal is to annex all settlements as part of Israel, then we should all be clear — despite the magical thinking or obfuscation represented by the Trump plan — that this would mean the end of the two-state solution: It would render impossible a viable Palestinian state that would be accepted by Palestinians. If, however, as some in Israel now suggest, the goal is primarily to annex
