By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
Even at the age of two, it was evident that Ari Grashin was a sports enthusiast. He would grab the TV remote and channel surf on the tube right up until he reached a station with sports on it.
Since then, he has played baseball, soccer, bowling, ping-pong and his favorite sport—basketball. And what he has learned through his love of sports and experience as a team player has been essential in helping Ari play hard to fight cancer.
Family friend Rick Eskenazi remembers the first time he met Ari was about eight or nine years ago at Shabbat dinner at the Grashin home.
“What I remember most was that he always had a ball of some kind in his hands … The brothers played all sorts of games that Shabbat. I eventually started going to his various baseball and basketball games to watch him play,” says Eskenazi, who is a pediatric PA and who has been helping the Grashins monitor and research the medical treatments Ari has been receiving.
At the age of 16, and the beginning of basketball season in October 2001, Grashin noticed that his shot was off and his strength had diminished. His condition gradually worsened and by Dec. 10, 2001, he had an MRI that showed he had a brain tumor. It was surgically removed on Dec. 21.
On the day before Grashin’s December surgery, both Sonics player Desmond Mason and Howard Schultz, owner of Starbucks and the Seattle Super Sonics, surprised Grashin with a visit to his home. Later in the month of December, several Sonics players including Mason paid a visit to Grashin and other patients at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. This was around the same time that Grashin was diagnosed with a cerebellar medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor. This was treated with a “gamma knife” operation and additional chemotherapy.
In January, Grashin began radiation therapy and chemotherapy at the University of Washington Medical Center. Despite his treatments, the tumor recurred in two places in the brain and continues to grow. A new tumor was discovered on April 19. An MRI on May 14 showed a new spot outside the tumor bed which indicated a recurrence of the medulloblastoma.
The original prognosis was for a 70–85 percent cure. However, with a recurrence, the doctors no longer talk in terms of a cure, but instead look for ways to prolong Grashin’s life as long as possible in order to be there when a new treatment becomes available.
Despite his illness, Grashin has a great attitude and continues to observe Jewish traditions. “He does everything he is still physically able to do, even putting on his tefillin, despite barely having the strength to lift his arm,” he said.
“Before Ari became ill, he was one of the most happy-go-lucky kids I remember,” said Eskenazi. “He is very natural. No pretense or airs. People of all ages befriended him from little kids to adults. He was a very popular camp counselor at the synagogue day camp. He’s a natural with sports especially baseball and basketball. He loves to argue a point and can be quite stubborn and insightful.”
Since his diagnosis in December, Grashin’s family, friends, and members of the local Jewish and non-Jewish communities, as well as communities around the world, have joined together in support for him.
“I’ve never met anyone who affected me as much or as deeply as Ari,” said Grashin’s friend Steve Bunin, who got to know him while briefly coaching him last November. “I’ve learned about courage. I’ve learned about love. I’ve learned about friendship. I’ve learned about humility. All the important things of life, I learn from [Ari] everyday.”
On Shavuot, Grashin’s family hosted a midnight learning shiur for him at their house. Close to 50 students from the Northwest Yeshiva High School (NYHS) participated. NYHS even declared a fast day in tribute to Grashin. Grashin’s father said that a student who normally did not fast even on Yom Kippur fasted for Ari that day.
On May 22, a Web site was started to inform people of Ari’s condition and to inspire others. The site, www.arigrashin.com, has had more than 18,000 hits. Grashin has received hundreds of e-mails, cards and letters, from as far away as Hong Kong and Israel. “It’s worldwide support,” said Ari’s mother Debbie Grashin.
“He’s touched a lot of people,” adds his father. “It’s really changed the community. It goes without saying that no one wants their child to be the catalyst for such change. (We would have, and still would, sacrifice anything in the world—our health, our wealth…anything for this not to have happened). But now that God has seen it fit to happen to Ari, we are proud that Ari has had such an effect on so many thousands of people throughout the community, the city and quite literally, the world.
“Why did God choose Ari? I think we’re seeing that truly God doesn’t give someone a burden they can’t handle. And He knows that Ari can, and is, handling it, and more importantly, he is at the same time teaching us all some incredible life lessons. If we don’t pick up on these lessons, then this entire episode becomes meaningless, and that would be profoundly sad and painful.”
Grashin’s family is currently seeking out new and alternative treatments for him in addition to the conventional treatments.
As this paper was going to press, an MRI revealed new tumors which have greatly affected Grashin’s functions. A new treatment regimen is being tried and the Grashins ask for continued prayers for its effectiveness.
The family says individuals can show their support to Grashin by praying for him (his Hebrew name is “Aryeh Noam Chaim ben Devorah Chana”), learning Torah, giving tzedakah (charity), taking on an additional mitzvot (good deed/religious obligation), keeping positive thoughts and energy directed toward him and/or refraining from speaking or listening to lashon hara (idle gossip). The Grashins would like to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers for Ari over the last eight months.