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East Meadow Jewish Center raising funds in honor of Bellmore boys

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The East Meadow Jewish Center’s Sisterhood and Young Adult Division is honoring two North Bellmore boys by raising funds for worthy causes, with memories of their short lives in mind.

The center, at 1400 Prospect Ave., is hosting its fourth annual “Purim Party with a Purpose” on Sunday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to noon. All proceeds will go to charities and the surviving family members of Adam Lefkowitz, a 4-year-old who died after a battle with an extremely rare disease this winter, and Zachary Merlin, a premature infant who died in 2012 owing to complications from severe chronic lung disease.

Zachary Merlin and his twin brother, Alexander, were born three months premature on May 6, 2012, after just 25 weeks in the womb. Because of their extreme prematurity, they were susceptible to many serious illnesses and were transferred from Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia in September. Three weeks later, Zachary died because of chronic lung disease –– a leading cause of death for extremely low-birth-weight infants.

Funds collected at the Purim event will be given in Zachary’s honor to Angela’s House, a Hauppauge-based nonprofit agency that provides services for medically frail children.

EMJC members will also raise money for a foundation being created by the Lefkowitz family that will support research and awareness of Degos disease. Fewer than 200 cases of the illness, which inflames the lining of small and medium veins and arteries, resulting in blocked vessels and dead tissue, have been reported in all of medical literature. Monies will also be given to Adam’s parents, Dina and Evan, who are still paying costly medical bills from their son’s hospital stays.

Adam was also treated at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. The disease caused him to have close to 20 strokes before his passing. One of his lungs partially collapsed, he had severe gastrointestinal problems, and he lost the use of his right leg and eye. His parents said he remained agreeable through it all, reflecting the kind-hearted nature that many who met him said he demonstrated during his short life.

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