Neighbors raise funds for cancer patient's family

As Deanine Jaffe neared death from brain cancer and her family slid deeper into debt, her husband Michael never asked his Melville neighbors for help. But the residents of Munson Court didn't need to be asked.

When Jaffe took the couple's daughter, Alexa, 8, to the bus stop in the morning, neighbors invariably handed him a dish for supper. One neighbor cut the Jaffes' grass and took out the trash.

And the kindnesses didn't end when Deanine Jaffe died Oct. 9. Sunday the neighbors closed off their street so more than a half-dozen homes could undertake a joint garage sale to help the family with unpaid medical and other expenses. It drew hundreds of people and raised more than $4,000.

"There were people who drove by, didn't get out of their car, and I didn't know who they were, and somebody gave $100 and somebody else gave $150," said Jaffe, 41.

The garage sale idea came from Michele Wittleder. "I brought it to a bunch of the other moms and we all wanted to do it together," she said. They e-mailed everybody they knew "and it basically took off from there. We just wanted to pitch in. My husband received a kidney transplant two years ago from a friend and I felt this was a way to give back."

Lisa Desmond said her family participated in the sale after "seeing what this family has gone through. We feel for their loss and we want to do whatever we can to make things a little better." Her family sold televisions, toys and furniture that brought in about $700 while the lemonade stand across the street generated $500.

Jaffe, who works in sales, said he and Deanine, who was 45 and had worked as a legal secretary, would have celebrated their 11th anniversary on the 17th. In August 2008 she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same disease that killed Sen. Ted Kennedy. She died at the Hospice Inn in Melville after the family could no longer take care of her at home.

While Jaffe said he has medical insurance, it didn't cover all the medical expenses. And he had to stop working two months ago as Deanine's condition worsened. "We have medical bills, credit card bills - two years of not living a normal life," he said.

"My neighbors have been phenomenal," Jaffe said. "It's been pretty overwhelming."