Sydney and Carly Lerman
May 9, 2008
by Jennifer Leventhal
If you were a young mother in our community faced with one of life’s most difficult challenges, how would you get through it? “With a little help from a lot of friends” is the answer given by local entrepreneur and mother of two, Barbara Lerman of Millwood. Five years ago, Lerman and her husband Jonathan welcomed their second daughter, Sydney, into their family; big sister Carly was three. The Lermans were devastated to learn that Sydney was born with a severe form of Marfan syndrome, a life-threatening disorder that affects the heart and blood vessels, skeleton and eyes.
The Lerman family faced both immediate and long-term medical challenges. When Sydney was just five months old, she underwent her first heart surgery. At age two, while accompanying her family to the National Marfan Foundation’s annual conference in St. Louis, Sydney went into heart failure. She was admitted to St. Louis Children’s hospital and placed on a bypass machine. She needed a heart transplant and, miraculously, one was found for her within the week. The years since have proven to be tremendously trying, both medically and emotionally. But Barbara Lerman believes the family is thriving because of the extraordinary support of her friends and neighbors.
Unconditional support from friends and neighbors
Those friends and neighbors have supported the family in all the usual ways: providing meals, setting up play-dates and offering transportation. But they have also followed the Lermans’ lead and become active in the National Marfan Foundation “We support the National Marfan Foundation’s life-saving research and education programs and we attend their fundraiser in New York City each year. By last year, more than 70 of our local friends were attending with us.” Lerman recalled. “After the event, several of our Chappaqua friends asked, ‘Can we do more?’”
In a generous act of friendship, the Heartworks Westchester Gala was born, a fundraiser for the National Marfan Foundation to be held May 29 at the Metropolis Country Club in White Plains.
From the dozens of friends asking how they could help, Lerman chose 20, all moms and most from New Castle, to be the steering committee for this event to benefit Sydney and the thousands of others like her who have Marfan syndrome. “They were so happy to help, so empowered to be able to take action,” said Lerman, “It was an amazing testimony to the importance of friendship.” The group, who mostly knew one another peripherally from back-to-school nights and Starbuck’s and the familiar places in town where their paths had crossed, quickly became united and shared a mission to create a Westchester event that would raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for their friends’ cause.
Close friends share challenges and commitment
Dana Mutkoski of Chappaqua is honored to be a member of the Heartworks Westchester benefit committee. “I’ve known the Lerman family for the past eight years,” said Mutkoski, who has a third grader at Westorchard Elementary School and another child who will enter kindergarten there in September. “They are incredible people who were dealt a terrible situation and have found a way to maintain a normal family life and to raise awareness and money to help other families in the same situation. Barbara runs a home-based business (Workout in Style), serves on the P.T.A., is part of a play-group, goes out with friends on the weekends, and all the while she is persevering through unthinkable challenges. I would have done anything to help them, and being part of this committee has been extremely meaningful.”
Courtney Rothstein is another member of the steering committee and a close friend of Barbara’s from the days they lived in Manhattan before both families moved to Chappaqua. Rothstein’s children are in the second grade and kindergarten at Roaring Brook Elementary School. “Barbara is like a sister to me,” said Rothstein, “and both of her girls are like my own daughters. Carly, who is my son’s age, is a wonderful girl and a very protective older sister.”
“But Sydney won’t spend her life being protected,” Rothstein pointed out. “She is strong-willed with a great sense of humor and finds a way to be part of everything she sees happening around her. Barbara and Jonathan show unconditional love and acceptance to both of their girls. They see Sydney in her own right, as a girl who wants to run and jump and dance and do it all in her own special way. Their strength and determination to forge into uncharted territory with such curiosity and wide-eyed wonder is an inspiration to me and to all of us who are committed to helping.”
Join the Lerman’s friends at Heartworks Westchester benefit on May 29
Other New Castle moms who are part of the benefit committee include: Meri Alexander, Heidi Israel, Amy Knox, Amy Leibner, Donna Levitz, Jodi Lichtenstein, Marcie Meyer, Ayelet Pollner, Amy Thomases, Robyn Troob and Marjorie Troob.
The Heartworks Westchester Benefit, featuring a cocktail reception and silent auction, will be held on Thursday, May 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Metropolis Country Club in White Plains. The event is hosted by Sydney’s parents, Barbara and Jonathan Lerman and her grandparents, Judith and Jerry Lerman and Susan and Laszlo Serenyi. The honorary junior committee chairperson is Sydney’s older sister and best friend Carly, a second grader at Westorchard Elementary School. This special event is about Sydney, of course, and about raising money for the National Marfan Foundation. However, it is also about friendship, support and the power of community. As Dana Mutkoski noted, “We are so fortunate to live in a place where moms will pull together to help another mom, where people are there for you when you need them.”
For more information and for tickets, contact Jennifer Grignoli of the National Marfan Foundation at (516) 883-8712, ext. 41.
Jennifer Leventhal is a Millwood-based freelance writer.
Copyright 2008 NewCastleNOW.org