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— For her bat mitzvah project, 13-year-old Ocean Township resident Carlie Schlachter decided to work toward something that would have a lasting impact.
The term mitzvah has come to express any act of human kindness, and for Carlie, her kindness will having a lasting impact on families affected by brain cancer.
Ocean Township resident Carlie Schlachter, second from right, will donate gifts from her June 13 bat mitzvah to create the Family Social Support Program at the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center at Monmouth Medical Center. She is shown at the center reviewing her bat mitzvah invitation with her mother, Joan, her father, Scott, and her sister, Sydney, 15. Carlie's grandmother, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005, is a patient of the brain tumor center.
For the last several weeks, the Ocean Township teen-ager has been working with Monmouth Medical Center Foundation to raise money for the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center — where her grandmother, Anita Schlachter, has been receiving treatment for brain cancer. She will donate her gifts from her June 13 bat mitzvah to create the Family Social Support Program at the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center.
"We hope that all our friends and family who contribute will feel good about helping Carlie's cause," says her mother, Joan Schlachter.
"Carlie has become a caring, respectful and compassionate person, and what she has decided on doing is truly a mitzvah," says her father, gastroenterologist Scott Schlachter, D.O. “We have watched her grow to be a beautiful person, both inside and out, and she once again has shown her inner beauty by trying to help other families who have been stricken with a disease that has closely affected her own family."
The David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center at Monmouth Medical Center is the only facility of its kind in central and southern New Jersey. Its mission is to provide the best treatment and possible outcomes for patients with benign and malignant primary tumors of the central nervous system, as well as neurological complications of systemic cancer.
Dr. Schlachter, whose mother was diagnosed in 2005 with a glioblastoma — the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor — credits neuro-oncologist Sumal Raval, M.D., medical director of the David Zocchi Brain Tumor Center, and the center's multidisciplinary staff with her survivorship.
"Without these doctors and nurses, Carlie's grandmother wouldn't be here to celebrate her special day," he says.
Carlie, who will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah at Oakhurst's Temple Beth El, is hoping not just to raise money for the center. She also is hoping to be a pioneer and inspiration to other youngsters to use similar celebrations to give back to a cause that has impacted their lives.
"The ripple effects from this selfless act can go far and wide," says Lu-Ann Russell, director of special events at Monmouth Medical Center Foundation. "The awareness that Carlie is creating will hopefully inspire others to think of those less fortunate when celebrating a milestone event in their own lives."
The Schlachter family is no stranger to working to benefit the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center. In 2008, Carlie's sister, 15-year-old Sydney, joined teams of children gathered at Monmouth Medical Center for the inaugural "Text for 10," where teens simultaneously texted others who has already agreed to donate at least $10 — thus raising nearly $50,000 for the hospital's brain tumor center.
To donate to Carlie's fund to create the Family Social Support Program at the David S. Zocchi Brain Tumor Center, call Monmouth Medical Center Foundation at 732-923-6886. To learn more about the brain tumor center, call 877-577-9800.
CONTACT: Kristine A. Brown
Director of Public Relations
732-557-3902
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