8 • Thursday, August 12, 2021
‘To Life!’
Tenth L’Chaim Fundraiser Honors the Late Phyllis Weinstein, BHEC Founder The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center will present its 10th L’Chaim fundraiser Aug. 22, livestreaming it from Red Mountain Theatre’s new arts campus and offering a blend of local talent with worldrenowned speakers to create a celebration of life. Sponsored by Medical Properties Trust, the annual event will honor the memory of the BHEC’s founder, the late Phyllis Grusin Weinstein. Host for the festivities will be Birmingham native Alison Goldstein Lebovitz, TV host of The A List with Alison Lebovitz. Co-produced by RMT Executive Director Keith Cromwell and BHEC board member Deborah Layman, the festivities will offer a combination of musical and theatrical entertainment, education and remembrance. The program also will feature a conversational one-on-one interview
Photos courtesy BHEC
By Emily Williams-Robertshaw
BHEC’s founder, the late Phyllis Grusin Weinstein, was honoree for the first L’Chaim event in 2012. She passed away in early January at the age of 100.
with Wolf Blitzer by Birmingham resident Esther Schuster. Blitzer, host of CNN’s The Situation Room, is the son of Holocaust survivors. Performances will include a col-
LIFE
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
laboration with the Red Mountain Performing Ensemble and special guests, including Mountain Brook native Alie B. Gorrie.
Honoring Its Founder
Weinstein was honoree for the first L’Chaim event in 2012. She passed away in early January at the age of 100. An official statement from the BHED said, “Weinstein’s particular gift as a leader was to bring others along on the way and get them involved. She mentored a generation of Jewish leaders in Birmingham. She recruited, she taught, she inspired, she steered, she insisted. The Birmingham community continues to reap the benefits of Phyllis’ leadership through the many leaders she has mentored.” Her work to establish the BHEC began in 1984, when she was a charter member of the Alabama State Holocaust Advisory Council, later known as the Alabama Holocaust Commission. In 2002, she established a sub-committee of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, dubbed the Birmingham Holocaust Education Committee, with a group of like-minded citizens. This committee became known as the
Host for the festivities will be Birmingham native Alison Goldstein Lebovitz and include a one-on-one interview with Wolf Blitzer.
Birmingham Holocaust Education Center in 2011. When asked why she worked so hard to preserve the history and lessons of the Holocaust, she answered, “It was something that needed to be done.” Weinstein served as a community mentor, teacher, advocate and leader throughout the local Jewish community. She was involved in the Birmingham Chapter of Hadassah, Collat Jewish Family Services, the Birmingham Jewish Federation and the federation’s Community Relations Committee. She spearheaded the founding of the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School,
FUTURE of at the time,” she said. After the screening, Doidge was informed that there was something in her screening that needed a second look. When meeting with an oncologist, she discovered that there was a one-centimeter lump in her right breast. The doctor informed Doidge that, if it were his own family member, he would suggest a lumpectomy. “At the time, quite honestly, I was not happy to hear that, but it was such a relief that it wasn’t something that I had thought was going to be a life-changing experience,” Doidge said. Believing the lumpectomy was the end, she decided she wasn’t going to tell her family, hoping to avoid causing any worry for her husband or her two college-aged children. Yet, based on her age and history, her oncologist ordered an MRI, which showed a deeper issue. There was a six-centimeter lobular cancer located in her left breast. That meant her lumpectomy was now upgraded to a double mastectomy. While the major surgery was far more invasive, Doidge said she got through it relatively smoothly. “I had no problems with the surgery,” Doidge said. “I felt like it was over before it started.” Just as she thought she was in the clear, her doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, and her battle continued through the
Photos courtesy American Cancer Society
From Page One
The American Cancer Society’s 41st annual Hope Gala will take place in person this year on Aug. 21. Co-chairs Jeamer Nichols, Kathleen Doss and Crawford Bumgarner have chosen the theme “The Future is Bright”.
pandemic. “That process took me to various rounds of chemo followed by 38 treatments with radiation,” Doidge said. This summer, she completed her last reconstructive surgery and skin grafting, and she now is on the road to recovery. With her future beginning to look brighter, Doidge said she is thankful for past support of cancer research, specifically in the breast cancer world. Through research that led to the development of new treatments, breast cancer is not the inevitable death sentence it was years ago. “It used to be, when you heard you
had cancer, a lot of folks didn’t make it through,” Doidge said. “I unfortunately know people who didn’t make it through their journey. So, the amount of money that stays here locally is so important.”
Perseverance
Along with Doidge, fellow honorees represent cancer survivors as well as current patients. Segers is a 23-year survivor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a diagnosis she received in her second year of marriage. When she underwent a bone marrow transplant years ago, she was told it was a temporary fix to buy time for
a bone marrow donor to be found. She was given a 20% chance of survival following the treatment, yet her body fought and has continued to win as she remains in remission. “I support ACS not only because of the resources, community and support it provides patients and their families today, but the promise and the hope it provides people who will be facing cancer tomorrow,” Segers said. Barnes, a gynecologic oncologist, recalls receiving the news that his father had been diagnosed with lymphoma during his time as a medical student. “There was a certain irony six
which continues to educate children in a building it shares with the Levite Jewish Community Center. Beyond her local Jewish community, she served on the board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and worked hand-in-hand with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute on projects that involved partnerships between African-American and Jewish communities. The BHEC continues its founding mission to educate the public about the history and lessons of the Holocaust in an effort to create a more just and compassionate world that recognizes the dignity, potential and humanity of every individual. The organization is a leader in Holocaust education, providing professional development for teachers throughout the state. In addition, the organization offers scholarships to advance national and international seminars on Holocaust education and provides speakers, exhibits and resources to schools, universities, corporations and civic groups across Alabama at no cost. To view the upcoming fundraiser online or to make a donation, visit bheclchaim.swell.gives.
months ago when I was diagnosed with lymphoma and started on that journey of treatment,” Barnes said. While his father lost his life to the disease, Barnes recently finished his chemotherapy treatments and has moved on to the maintenance stage of his cancer journey. His experiences led him to reflect on his patients’ experiences and to serve them and support them during treatments when they aren’t meeting with him in his office. “This diagnosis for me has had several levels,” he said. “Maybe I got this from my dad. … When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t want to go through this and not become a better person in some way.” For honoree Mitchell, the battle continues. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia two days after Christmas. According to Mitchell, what drives her to support the American Cancer Society is her will to live and the awareness the organization brings to lifesaving research and patient battles. Her treatment will require a bone marrow transplant, and while one of her two sons is a 50% match, she is hoping to find a better match to achieve the best result. “I choose to live to see my kids get married, to see my grandbabies, to see the possibilities this life has ahead,” Mitchell said. The Hope Gala chairs noted that donations can be made on the event website, acshopegala.swell.gives. Donors can give in honor of one of the four honorees or of a loved one.
