Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer
Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer

Shira Alexander: What My 16-Year-Old Daughter Taught Me Before She Died

July 18, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Shira Alexander: What My 16-Year-Old Daughter Taught Me Before She Died

Shira Alexander's daughter Tehila was diagnosed with osteosarcoma—a cancerous bone tumor in her knee—at age 14, just days after a family holiday to Bournemouth. The diagnosis came in August 2021, on Tehila's birthday. She started chemotherapy four days later. Over the next two and a half years, she spent 320 nights in the hospital, underwent a major surgery that replaced the bones in her leg with a metal rod, broke that leg below the rod, had multiple line infections and replacements, and eventually learned the cancer had spread to her lungs and become incurable. She died in February 2023 at age 16. What Shira describes is not just a medical timeline but a portrait of someone who refused to let the illness define her—and who, in doing so, taught everyone around her what resilience looks like.

The Diagnosis and the Long Road

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:18) **Early Marriage & The Struggle for Children** - Shira describes meeting her husband, moving to Gateshead, and the five-year wait and miscarriages before their first daughter, Tehila, was born.
  • 2 (05:09) **The First Signs & The Long Road to Diagnosis** - The initial symptom of a broken foot in June 2021 is dismissed, but persistent knee pain leads to an X-ray and the devastating discovery of osteosarcoma.
  • 3 (09:06) **The Family’s Fracture: Divide and Conquer** - The cancer diagnosis forces the family into a "two passing ships" dynamic, with Shira and her husband splitting time between the hospital and their other four children.
  • 4 (11:36) **Tehila’s Unwavering Spirit Through Treatment** - Despite horrific side effects from chemotherapy and major surgeries, Tehila never complained, showing incredible resilience and positivity that inspired everyone around her.
  • 5 (14:39) **The Physical Toll: Surgery and Setbacks** - Details of the massive leg surgery (replacing bone with a metal rod) and subsequent complications, including a broken leg and infections.
  • 6 (17:47) **The Moment Hope Died: Incurable and Inoperable** - After a brief remission, a routine scan in December reveals the cancer has returned and is now incurable, collapsing the family’s world.
  • 7 (22:27) **Living While Dying: Tehila’s Final Year** - Even with a terminal diagnosis, Tehila powered through, graduating high school, attending summer camp, and refusing to let her sickness define her.

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Show Notes

When 14-year-old Tehila Devorah was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer), Shira Alexander and her family were thrust into a journey no parent expects. Shira shares Tehila's remarkable resilience through chemotherapy, surgeries, and unimaginable challenges, while reflecting on faith, grief, family, and the lessons her daughter continues to teach long after her passing.



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✬ IN MEMORY OF ✬


This episode is in memory of:

• Shimon Dovid ben Yaakov Shloima

• Miriam Sarah bas Yaakov Moshe

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