Cohen
Continued from Page 23
“I couldn’t move. They carried me on a
gurney. I was very unhappy. I just wanted
to die.”
The stroke occurred when Cohen was
on his way to work at York Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center. The receptionist
noticed he was sweating and seemed out
of sorts, and immediately called for an
ambulance. Once admitted to the hospital,
Cohen, who admits he wasn’t taking care
of himself then, fought his caretakers at
every turn.

“I thought I had a fever,” said Cohen,
who was a heavy smoker and had issues
with bulimia and anorexia. “I went to
Einstein for four days and got kicked out
because I refused treatment.

“I tried to hide it from my parents for a
couple of days because my dad had had a
stroke a few years before.”
Eventually, he realized the problem was
far more serious than he imagined. Over
the course of the next year, Cohen began
his recovery, living at Majestic Oaks
Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in
Warminster while rehabbing at Moss-
Rehab in Elkins Park.

But he still felt like an outsider, which
in some ways made him feel strangely
comfortable. After all, Cohen had always
been different.

“Russell always marched to his own
drummer,” said his mother, Ellen Cohen,
who indicated her son was diagnosed with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) when he was in first grade. “He
had a handicap growing up, but not a lot
was available in terms of education.

“He was never on any medication, but
he was very bright and his memorization
skills were amazing.”
They encountered so much resistance
sending their son to Hebrew school that
the Cohens left Northeast Philadelphia for
the Jersey shore.

“Getting Bar Mitzvahed for me was
difficult because I was rejected by the
Philadelphia synagogues at the time,
because of my learning disability,” said
Cohen, who would later return to attend
Lower Moreland High School and the
Ashbourne School. “Rabbis then did not
know how to deal with this.

“But we had a house in Longport from
before. We went to the rabbi in Margate at
Temple Emeth
Sholom [Reform
Congregation], Rabbi Seymour Rosen. He
said, ‘Sure I’ll take him.’ Because of him, I got
into biblical history. He gave me more than a
Bar Mitzvah. He was a rabbi of the heart.”
Meanwhile, Cohen kept showing
up people who told him he couldn’t
achieve things.

“They told my parents, ‘Accept his limi-
tations. He won’t go to college,”’ he said,
bitterly recalling his time at Ashbourne.

See Cohen, Page 26
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24 MAY 18, 2017
11706777-Robbins – Jack and Barbara Robbins,
Ann’s Choice residents
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