Last night at 1:30am on January 6th, my dad lost his battle with cancer. ?Thank you for your support, the fundraiser will be kept open for another week or so, in order to contribute towards his funeral expenses and memorial. ?Below is our story:

My father, Les Lazarowitz, began his fight with cancer about 5 years ago. ?At the time he had a basal cell carcinoma removed from the skin on his forehead, just as many others from his generation has. ?Most of the time this is pretty routine and once it is removed, the area is checked, but it is unlikely that it would spread throughout the body.

Nearly 3 years later, his right eye started to wander and he began to see double. ?The doctors diagnosed it as a diabetic stroke in a muscle/nerve of his eye. ?In an attempt to rehabilitate the damaged muscle, he was injected with Botox to paralyze the opposite side. Subsequently, the paralysis progressed to his eyelid and over the next six months down the right-side of his face. ?His physician thought this side effect was caused by the Botox treatment. ?

In the early summer of 2014, my parents went for a second opinion regarding the paralysis. ?The doctor immediately identified it as not a diabetic stroke nor extended paralysis caused by the Botox treatment. ?It was a malignant tumor that had spread along his cranial facial nerves originating from the basal cell skin cancer removed several years prior. The basal cell was behaving aggressively.

Over the past 2 years my father has endured a gamut of cancer treatments, some showing brief promise and others none at all. Tumors formed in the Orbital Apex and Cavernous Sinus on the right side of his head behind his eye and bordering on the brain causing his right eye to bulge from the socket and become blind.?

All my life my father has been a large man in his personality and his physicality. ?He spent his career in the movie industry as a sound man, being his own brand of celebrity with his presence. ?Working on great New York Cinema of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, such as Godfather, Taxi Driver, Tootsie, Raging Bull, Fatal Attraction, Big, Groundhog Day, and many more... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493796/ ?Cancer has now robbed him of his robust appearance and persona, leaving a man that can only speak in whispers, weighs about 130 pounds -100 pounds less than he did, and lacks the strength to stand or even feed himself.

My parents have been living on a fixed income with a tight budget due to other medical conditions forcing him into early retirement.? My father's condition has drained their savings and the ability to provide him with the basic care of a nursing aide on a daily basis. They live in Florida, and my sister and I live in the NYC area; we visit as often as we can but that offers little relief in the big picture. My sister is due to have a baby in January and this has prevented her from visiting and also breaks our heart that our mother and father can't be here for that. ?Medicare provides a nurse visit once a week and a 30 minute shower aide visit every few days... not much at all. My mother can't lift him from his bed, can't leave him alone, and must tend to all of his many needs. She has been paying for a private aide for a few hours a day a few?days a week to help in the mornings and to transfer him to and from a wheelchair for an hour or two at most. This along with uncovered medical expenses has depleted their?resources. We hope to get him a full-time aide every day so that he can receive his proper care with dignity, and?my mother can do everyday errands, see her new grandchild, and provide?Les with the therapies?he needs.

With your donation, we hope to get Les the care he needs and to make our family whole during this time. ?I have set an amount that should allow for care in the next year and pay for the inevitable funeral and memorial expenses. ?Charitable causes and support has been something that is dear to my family and myself; we never thought we would be in the position asking this help for my father.? My 7 year old son Max radiates this giving nature.? He spent this past summer making arcade games out of recycled materials in order to hold a special arcade to raise money for the Children's Hospital. https://www.facebook.com/maxsarcade/?I am so proud of him and he is rooting for his Pipa, please help if you can.