Inbal Menashe, 22

Two years before she graduated Lawrence High School, Inbal Menashe was diagnosed with a very rare form of childhood cancer, Ewing’s Sarcoma, that often originates in the long, large bones of the body, including the hip, thigh, shin, chest and arm bones.

Despite battling the illness, Menashe journeyed across the U.S. hoping to find a cure to the second most common bone cancer after osteosarcoma. She took part in many clinical trials and her family said that her will to live and courage inspired all around her who battled similar diseases.

Menashe died on Feb. 12. The Cedarhurst resident was 22.

“Inbal was full of spirit, love and carried a true zest for life,” said Karen Staller, a guidance counselor at Lawrence High.

Born on April 11, 1994 in Tel Aviv, she and her family came to the U.S. five years later. In spite of her medical struggles and the pain she endured, Menashe graduated from Lawrence High in 2012. Some time later, she enrolled in a dentistry program in Farmingdale State College. She worked as a dental assistant alongside Dr. David Galler in Woodmere.

Lawrence Superintendent Gary Schall called it an “honor” to escort Menashe to her college interview, and as a musician, remembers her as “a wonderful cellist. “At the meeting with the director of admissions and the president of SUNY Farmingdale she was accepted on the spot — everyone she met recognized her greatness!,” Schall said. “She possessed tremendous strength in the face of life’s greatest challenges and always maintained the most positive spirit and radiant smile.”

Menashe is survived by her mother Nelya Menache, father Aharon Bohnik, brother Lir Bohnik, and sister Rachel Bohnik, along with many uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews.

A funeral ceremony was held at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels in Hewlett on Feb. 13. Menashe was interred at New Montefiore Cemetery located in West Babylon.

Lawrence School District reading specialist Polly Van Raalte taught Menashe at the Number Five School. “She loved to read aloud and act out characters from a story,” Van Raalte said.

At the Feb. 13 Lawrence Board of Education meeting there was a moment of silence to remember Menashe.