When illness overturned Chani Brand’s world, her faith was her anchor

IT was an ordinary Friday in Bnei Brak, and Chani Brand had just finished putting up the cholent when she noticed a rash on her arms. She wasn’t concerned — the rash wasn’t hurting her — but, remembering a tip that her mother, a nurse, had told her, she pressed on the rash to see if it blanched or faded with pressure. It didn’t. Chani knew that could be a worrisome sign and decided to see a doctor to check it out. But when she got to the clinic, it was packed, and she made an about-face. “I figured — how serious could a painless rash be?” she remembers ruefully.

Her mother, a nurse, advised her to mark the spots with a pen so she could see if they were spreading. As Shabbos progressed, it became clear the rash was spreading aggressively. Still, Chani remained unperturbed, and didn’t get to the doctor until Monday, who prescribed a few blood tests.

That Monday afternoon, Chani went shopping, leaving her baby, Shimmy, at her parents’ house. When she returned in the evening to pick him up, arms laden with packages, her husband was already there waiting for her. Gently, he told her that the test results had come in, and the doctor’s orders were to go to the emergency room ASAP.

“It sounded like a joke,” Chani remembers. “Why would I go to the emergency room?”  But her mother, the nurse, was concerned. “We’re going this minute!” she told Chani.

Dazed, she followed her mother and husband to the car. “I didn’t even bring a bag with basic necessities,” she says. “It was obvious to me that the whole thing would be over in an hour or two. I didn’t bother telling my father how to prepare Shimmy’s formula, because by morning I’d definitely be back.”