Notes on Rebecca's Behalf
Rebecca Grossman has always been a kind person with immense love for people and animals. Since the accident, she remains broken and devastated. She has thought of nothing else but being a human being and reaching out to the parents of Mark and Jacob over the past three years, however, she has been told time and again not to, and has even been threatened by the civil attorneys who filed the civil case against the city, state and county on behalf of the Iskander family. She continues to write letters to the family in hopes that one day, she can send them. Although there has been tremendous outrage from the community including vitriolic comments posted on social media and even death threats made against her, Rebecca maintains a strong faith in God and in humanity. She prays for reconciliation every day.
Let us take the time to learn all the facts before forming a biased opinion. How does one, who has led a life of service for decades and has been honored by the State of California and the communities she has served with great passion and perseverance, suddenly become a person with no regard for human life on a 3.5 minute drive to her home where her daughter was waiting for her?
Read about others coping with the excruciating pain of accidentally causing a death at: www.accidentalimpacts.org
Hebrews 13:1
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
Messages of Support and Strength for Rebecca:
We are including excerpts from letters (below) that were written on behalf of Rebecca Grossman by individuals close to her:
- MF: The tragic accident which resulted in the loss of the two lskander children and the sadness over her involvement will never leave her mind. I’ve seen her sob uncontrollably innumerable times. She has profound sadness that she has been admonished not to contact Mr. and Mrs. lskander to express her grief and condolences to them. This has pained her terribly. She desperately wants them to know that she’ll never have a moment in her life without thinking of them and their children.
- ES: I am writing to share some thoughts about Rebecca Grossman. I first met Rebecca in 2002 when I accompanied a village girl from our island to the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles. The girl, Yulce, suffered severe disfigurement from burns that we could not treat on the island. The Grossman Burn Foundation helped to provide surgery and care for Yulce. But her participation is much more than just the financing. Many times Rebecca traveled to our small clinic and inpatient center in Indonesia to assist more patients. In one case, she brought with her prosthetic noses for a patient whose nose had been chopped off by a machete. Rebecca took great care to get the right correct color and shape for the woman. She also assisted me in the clinic and was loved by all. Her deep compassion and love for the patients who we cared for together impacted me greatly. She would always go the extra mile to care for our patients. She cared about providing extras, such as dental care for patients, and attended to their needs down to the smallest detail.
- RS: A patient named Valentia, a recent burn survivor Rebecca brought to the States for medical attention, was one of the more emotional GBF cases I had witnessed. The Valentia case truly displayed Rebecca’s capacity for love and compassion. Valentia was a burn survivor, suffering a battery acid attack in her hometown in South Africa. Valentia arrived to the States during the height of covid, a time period where most would not be as willing to open their homes, let alone to an individual from abroad. Despite this, I watched Rebecca welcome Valentia warmly, embrace her, take her to and from appointments and provide her with comfort following her operations.
- KO: She is a person who radiates so much love that it is impossible not to love her. She has such a genuine empathy and concern for others that I feared for her sanity when the terrible and unfortunate accident happened. For someone whose life is spent in loving and caring for others, I can not even begin to imagine what she is going through. Like everyone else who knows about the tragic accident, my heart breaks for the family, and I pray for them constantly. I know Rebecca does the same because every time we speak, she weeps as she talks of nothing else but those two precious souls. I know she will not get over this, because of the kind of person she is.This is from someone who has experienced first-hand who she is as a former patient.
- SB: I have known Rebecca since we were in middle school together. I know she was devastated when the accident occurred and remains deeply saddened. She has always had so much love and compassion for others, I can only imagine how broken her heart is for the two boys that lost their lives and for the parents. Rebecca is the type of person that would do anything for anyone and would never wish harm on anyone, least of all children. I recall one instance a few years back when she literally picked up a young woman that was passed out on the street after being released from the hospital from a methamphetamine overdose. She put the woman in her car, took her to get food and then gave her a ride home after the fire department informed her that they were not allowed to take the woman. Many people told Rebecca she was crazy but she thought that everyone else were the ones that were not thinking straight as she felt that what she did was what everyone should do for someone in distress. She looked at this woman as a child and could never have just walked away and left her. She has lived a life of selflessness putting others ahead of herself as this is simply who she is and has been her entire life, a caring person who wants to lift others up when they are down. She is as far as one can be from selfish as the prosecution wants the people to believe. This terrible accident was just that, an accident. Sadly, this has impacted her as a human being and as a mother which has been her greatest joy in life after undergoing years of fertility treatments, including several miscarriages. She always said after four years of trying to become pregnant that being a mother was the most important job that God gave her. I know that she continues to pray for the Iskander family everyday, every hour. She has shared with me that as a mother, she will think about the accident for the remainder of her life. Not being allowed to reach out to the family, to be a human being, has driven her to times of total darkness and despair. I know her heart and I know that this incident is all she has thought about and will continue to think about for the rest of her life.