Making this page for our incredible friends, Sara, Gabrielle and Arianna Bloom, is surreal and completely devastating. The story of Ken Bloom's life is a joyful, loving, fun, proud and devoted one, but the story of his passing on January 10, 2017 is too sudden, too soon and too heartbreaking.

On New Year's Day, after a wonderfully fun night (and early morning!) celebrating and toasting a new year of hope for health, happiness and success, Ken left the house to go play basketball as he typically does every Sunday. However, instead of coming home with his usual review of stats and glorious highlight-reel moments, Ken would never be coming back home. (the picture on the main page is from dinner on New Year's Eve, unbeknownst to any of us it was his last night as the Ken Bloom we know and love.)

After the last game, Ken told his teammates he was feeling dizzy and collapsed on the court from a heart attack. He never regained consciousness and was rushed to Aria-Jefferson Health where he was put on life support and underwent therapeutic hypothermia to aid in what we were initially believing would be a difficult but hopeful recovery. Doctors told the family when they were able to stabilize him, he would have to have triple bypass surgery because they had found Ken had multi-vessel coronary artery disease involving three main arteries causing a greater than 90% blockage. The family focused on this and having Ken regain consciousness as the main concerns, until a couple days later when the doctors rewarmed Ken and performed an EEG. (I apologize if I don't have the timeline exact...this has all been a blur). It was after this that the doctors gathered the family to deliver the devastating news that the issues with Ken's heart were insignificant compared to the damage that had been done to his brain while he was without oxygen--the words the family heard were impossible to come to terms with: there was no possibility of his recovery or any change for the better, ever. Doctors call it a permanent anoxic brain injury or global ischemic event (also hypoxic-ischemic brain injury) that has destroyed all of Ken's cerebral cortical functions and neural circuitry, taking away what makes Ken the amazing person he has been to all of us.   

Since New Year's Day, Ken remained in the hospital on life support surrounded by his loving family as they had to come to terms with this prognosis. His adored wife, Sara, has had to make the most agonizing decision ever which was to remove him from life support today, January 10th. While the family knows this decision is what Ken would want, it has been beyond painful to see a family as close and as wonderful as theirs having their hearts broken more and more each day as they moved closer to having to let their beloved and treasured husband/father/son/brother/uncle/cousin/friend finally go.
                     The Boys/Blooms are back in town!

As we write this today, January 10th, Ken Bloom peacefully passed less than an hour after he was removed from life support.  

We are asking for your donations to help support the family as Sara and his pride-and-joy-daughters, Gabrielle and Arianna, are now tasked with trying to figure out how to move forward on their journey without Ken.  

(Sadly, their first decisions involved making his funeral arrangements. His funeral will be at 12 noon on January 11, 2017, at Old York Road Temple-Beth Am located at 971 Old York Road in Abington)

As friends, it is not our place to know the specifics of the family's financial situation, but we do know that they are facing daunting financial needs to include medical/hospital and funeral costs, tuition payments, and the loss of Ken's income as he was the sole financial provider for the family. 

We would be forever grateful for any support you can provide to Sara, Gabrielle and Arianna to help them move forward with less worries. And knowing the pride Ken took in being able to take care of his family, we know it would make him happy to know his family is not alone in this and being supported.

We will end this with an additional request not only for donations for Ken's family, but also to remember Ken by how he lived his life and not by this event. Ken lived with such immense pride in and love for his family--both in the US and in Israel-- and we all know especially for his beautiful and incredible daughters, with devotion to those he cared for (including his 91 year old mom!), with his wonderful sense of humor that could make anyone laugh, with a deep love for his Jewish heritage and community at Old York Road Temple-Beth Am, and with pure enjoyment of and joy for life. Life is short so like Ken did, let's do more of what makes us happy today because no one is promised tomorrow. L'Chaim, Ken! We will miss you so very much but we raise our glasses to you with love and the promise to keep your Blooming spirit alive in our hearts!

With love and friendship forever,
Dave, Debbie, Carly and Nikki Gustafson