{"id":35742,"date":"2014-04-25T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T16:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=35742"},"modified":"2014-05-27T17:06:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-27T17:06:58","slug":"dynamic-doctor-duo-couple-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/health\/dynamic-doctor-duo-couple-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dynamic Doctor Duo: A Couple with a Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"steinherzArticla\"Drs. Peter and Laurel Steinherz are not only married to each other\u2014they\u2019re married to a common calling. For over three decades they\u2019ve worked in tandem, helping cancer patients survive in the face of seemingly impossible odds.<\/p>\n

They met at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He loaned her his textbooks and his dissecting kit\u2014they married soon thereafter. Forty years later, this world-celebrated pediatric oncologist and cardiologist, and founders of Camp Simcha\u2014a life-normalizing getaway for children with cancer\u2014are working together to realize their greatest dream \u2013 putting themselves permanently out of business. With volumes of seminal cancer research articles and life-saving breakthroughs between them, they appear to be well on their way.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say you shouldn\u2019t sleep on Rosh HaShanah or you\u2019ll have a sleepy (work) year,\u201d says Dr. Peter Steinherz, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist, devoting his life to researching and treating leukemia, lymphoma, and Wilms’ tumor. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind a slow year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through all the moments of grief and joy, what remains constant is the Steinherzes unshakable faith. They view their work as a vital partnership with the Ultimate Rofeh<\/em>. They are diligently fulfilling their end of the deal.<\/p>\n

Dr. Peter Steinherz not only manages research and therapies administered to children and adolescents with leukemia at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), he also helped develop new treatment protocols considered the standard of care throughout the world. Thanks to his contributions, the survival rate of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia\u2013the most common cancer in children\u2014rose from 50 percent in the 1970s to more than 80 percent for high-risk, and more than 90% for standard-risk patients today.<\/p>\n

As director of pediatric cardiology at MSKCC, Dr. Laurel Steinherz focuses on the organ pumping the lifeblood her husband treats, evaluating the long-term effects of cancer and cancer therapies on patients\u2019 hearts. Her findings have determined the Children\u2019s Cancer Study Group\u2019s (CCG)[1<\/a>] procedures for cardiac monitoring of pediatric patients, during and after therapy, which are currently employed across the globe.<\/p>\n

Living on cheese sticks and chocolate, the tireless twosome leave their Hewlett, NY home each workday morning at 7:00 and head to Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side. On average, Peter sees twenty-five to thirty patients in a day, performing spinal taps and bone marrow surgery, and making rounds. When Laurel\u2019s not seeing patients, she\u2019s reading electro-cardiograms and conference calling with national and international medical research groups. The pair finally returns home by 10:00 p.m. But the workday doesn\u2019t stop there. Laurel\u2019s frequently up until 3:00 a.m., going over data and working out drug complications.<\/p>\n

\"steinherzArticl2\"The couple\u2019s cases often overlap. When the MSKCC staff conducts consultations about patients with leukemia, Peter will analyze a drug\u2019s effects on his young patients, and Laurel weighs in on its effects on their hearts. They collaborate on publications and testify together before the FDA on the effects of various drugs. Those closest to them would agree that their renown hasn\u2019t produced any negative effects whatsoever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the humblest people in the world,\u201d says Dr. Leonard Wexler, colleague at MSKCC. \u201cDespite the fact that his cure rates are unmatched anywhere else and she set the guidelines for heart-healthy cancer care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their patients concur. \u201cI knew immediately I wanted Dr. Steinherz to treat me,\u201d says Raffi Leicht, 26, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma at 21, now in remission. \u201cBecause of his knowledge and ability, but also the fact that he is a maamin<\/em>. [He\u2019s a doctor who] says things like \u2018siyata d\u2019Shamaya<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018imertze Hashem<\/em>.\u2019 That\u2019s a huge deal. And he said repeatedly during my treatments: \u2018We\u2019re in this together.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t just a doctor and his patient; it was a Jew and a fellow Jew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jared Okun, 24, diagnosed with lymphoma at 19, also in remission, echoes Leicht\u2019s sentiments. \u201cDuring our first meeting with Dr. Steinherz my parents started crying. He grabbed a tissue box, handed it to them and then asked me for my Hebrew name,\u201d says Okun. \u201cHis colleagues, who were also in the room, saw how important it was to him \u2013 to ask me my name for davening before we even spoke about the treatment. It was comforting knowing he understood Who was really in control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Steinherz takes his responsibility to be a mekadesh Hashem<\/em> seriously. \u201cHow you handle crises and tragedies reflects on you as a messenger of Hashem,\u201d says Peter, born during the Holocaust and later smuggled out of Hungary with his family in 1956. \u201cPeople question why G-d lets these things happen to children. It\u2019s a very difficult thing to accept. While in the trenches, fighting, you don\u2019t know the big picture. Hashem runs the world and it\u2019s beyond human understsanding why tragedies happen. Maybe one day we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camp Simcha \u2013 Summer of Healing
\n<\/strong>
\n\"steinhezFeature\"In 1986, the Steinherzes expanded their protocols to healing the child\u2019s spirit. Rabbi Pinchas Horowitz, son of the Bostoner Rebbe, approached Dr. Steinherz with the idea to launch a project that would help Jewish children with cancer on a spiritual level. Peter proposed opening up a shomer Shabbos summer camp in the Catskills. They were later joined by Rabbi Simcha Scholar, executive director of Chai Lifeline\u2014the umbrella organization providing services for families struggling with serious illness.<\/p>\n

The camp began with twelve children. Today, 220 children, some straight out of the ICU, attend Camp Simcha\u2019s state-of-the-art facility, equipped with an infirmary and medical personnel to administer chemotherapy and g-tube feeds, and a camp staff to administer two glorious weeks of fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing bald is nothing unusual at camp. Here the children feel normal,\u201d says Peter, Camp Simcha\u2019s medical director. \u201cOvernight, you see them blossom into happy normal children. We see children close to being terminal smiling again.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Rabbi Scholar, Camp Simcha became what it is today because of the Steinherzes nonstop, hands-on dedication. \u201cThey deal with illness out in the open,\u201d he says. They don\u2019t ever give up trying everything in their power to make a person better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if that means getting in on the fun. \u201cThey are always the ones to get dressed up and excited over the camp \u2018theme of the summer,\u201d says Rivky Schwartz, head counselor of Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special for girls. One summer, when the camp dressed up each day according to a Time Machine theme, the Steinherzes walked around the camp, she, decked out in a victorian dress and he, as a knight in shining armor. \u201cThe children are drawn to them,” says Schwartz. “The little ones go over and hug them, and the older ones thank them for all they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally launched as a summer camp for children battling cancer and other hematological illnesses, Camp Simcha opened a second branch, Camp Simcha Special, for children with debilitating chronic conditions.<\/p>\n

Apparently, these dedicated doctors take care of their patients \u2013 no matter where they go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched Peter in shul,\u201d says Rabbi Scholar. \u201cWhen they make a mishaberach<\/em> for cholim<\/em>, out of his mouth comes thirty names \u2013 without a list.\u201d Laurel says Tehillim throughout their morning drives to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Raised in the ER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their children will attest\u2014growing up in the Steinherz household was anything but typical, but it was definitely interesting \u2013 in an emergency room kind of way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d ask, \u2018Where\u2019s the cream cheese, Mom?\u2019\u201d says Dr. Aviva Oppenheim, of Woodmere, NY\u2014the Steinherzes daughter and a pediatrician in Brooklyn. \u201cShe\u2019d answer, \u2018To the right of the bio-hazard bag, dear, next to the strep kit,\u2019\u201d Our Shabbos table conversation was basically parsha and the hospital. We felt very much a part of it\u2014they allowed us to be.”<\/p>\n

Aviva also got a jump on medical school. \u201cOur house was the triage unit of the neighborhood,\u201d she says. \u201cOn Shabbos, there\u2019d be a knock on the door; a boy had gashed his arms through a screen. Instead of running home, he ran to our house. My father stitched him up on the kitchen table.\u201d<\/p>\n

While other kids played ball, the Steinherz children played \u201cheart attack.\u201d \u201cMy brother would collapse on the floor,\u201d recalls Oppenheim, a doctor at Camp Simcha and one of its first counselors. \u201cI\u2019d run to get my medical emergency crash cart, equipped with a stethoscope, EKG and mock defibrillator, and I\u2019d resuscitate him.\u201d Despite their parents\u2019 jam-packed schedule, no one felt neglected. \u201cThey were always there for us,\u201d she says, \u201cMy mother was always on top of our home lives; she helped with homework, came to school plays. She worked three days a week, and brought work home, which she did after we went to sleep. I have this vision of her in her doctor\u2019s coat with echocardiogram results pouring out of her pocket and coffee in her hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Oppenheim appreciates her mother breaking new ground for women in the medical field. \u201cShe was one of nine women in her medical school class,\u201d she says. \u201cMy class was fifty-one percent women. \u2018Work hard, do your best, contribute to Klal Yisrael<\/em>.\u2019 Those were the big themes growing up in our home. We had a dedicated hospital phone in our home. If that phone rang, everything stopped. It was a huge lesson for us. I knew I needed to serve in an occupation helping people. We didn\u2019t know any other way.\u201d The Steinzerzes three sons\u2014a rav\/maagid shiur<\/em>, a mashgiach ruchani<\/em> and a kollelman<\/em>\u2014live in Israel with their families.<\/p>\n

Despite the advancements in cancer treatment, not every patient survives. \u201cNo one likes to accept defeat,\u201d says Dr. Steinherz. \u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy for the family and the physician. It\u2019s tough to bear. I do my best; the rest is up to G-d.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, they say they\u2019d do it all over again. Decades worth of patients come back to visit, some from as many as thirty-five years ago. Thank you letters and smiling photos of former patients with their children line Peter\u2019s office wall. The Steinherzes rejoice with them at their chatunot, as well as the brissim and bar\/bat mitzvot of their children. \u201cThat would not have been possible when I started out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow morning, they\u2019re back on the Van Wyck; Peter\u2019s behind the wheel, Laurel\u2019s behind her Tehillim. After other doctors have long retired, this dynamic duo continues their vital mission. As long as there are sick children, there\u2019s still work to be done.<\/p>\n

—
\n[<\/a>1] CCG \u2013 a U.S. and Canadian clinical trial cooperative group created with the mission of studying childhood cancers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drs. Peter and Laurel Steinherz are not only married to each other\u2014they\u2019re married to a common calling. For over three decades they\u2019ve worked in tandem, helping cancer patients survive in the face of seemingly impossible odds. They met at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He loaned her his textbooks and his dissecting kit\u2014they married soon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":35811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Dynamic Doctor Duo: A Couple with a Mission - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/health\/dynamic-doctor-duo-couple-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Dynamic Doctor Duo: A Couple with a Mission - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Drs. Peter and Laurel Steinherz are not only married to each other\u2014they\u2019re married to a common calling. For over three decades they\u2019ve worked in tandem, helping cancer patients survive in the face of seemingly impossible odds. They met at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 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