My name is Dassi. Last week, we lost my mom.

For a while, she was very sick. We watched her struggle. She was in pain. She was scared. We were too.

We’ve never been a “normal” family. My older sister Tzippy is special needs. Our dad is very sick. He is in a wheelchair.

Now that our mom is gone, we don’t know how we’ll get by. We’re five kids still in the house. Our dad isn’t able to do much. He’s very sick and the shock of losing our mom has been very hard on all of us.

It is strange to think of money now, but this is the truth: We don’t have enough to get by. Everything my parents had saved up went toward mom’s treatments. Dad is too sick to work. All of us kids are still in school.

I hear the adults discussing: How will we pay rent? How will we eat? Who will take Tzippy to the therapies that she needs? How will we get clothes for the winter? School supplies? I may be just a teenager but now that our mom is gone it’s our job to make sure our family will survive.

In the video above you can see my little sister, asking for help. This has been hard on all of us.

If you can, please help us. We are sitting shiva now. It is hard  to believe this pain will ever go away.

Dassi