Remembering an Angel 

Michael, Jared, and Lily Leff 

Cindy and Michael Leff lived the love story most people only dream of. Together since they were just 14, the high school sweethearts from Long Island built a life together focused on what matters most—family, especially their children, Jared, 26, and Lily, 22, and friendship. Cindy, a talented and creative decorator, was the life of the party, always the person everyone gravitated to, and described by her closest friends as the embodiment of strength, grace, and style and the calm in the midst of any storm. “Cindy was our world and the CEO of our family, and she epitomized love and warmth,” Michael shared. 

Cindy, Michael, Jared, and Lily were extremely close and others wanted to share their bond; in fact, Jared and Lily’s friends considered her an “extra mom” and friends were always gathering at their house because they genuinely enjoyed spending time with her. “My mom was the perfect mix of the helicopter mom and the cool mom,” Jared said. She seamlessly managed the details of his and his sister’s lives but also was the go-to person whenever someone wanted to know about the latest trends in fashion, design, music, or pop culture, or needed a recommendation for a new restaurant or a New York City hotspot. 

On February 24, 2023—coincidentally, Michael’s birthday—the Leff family’s lives took a turn no one had ever expected. Cindy had an MRI to pinpoint the cause of her back pain, and the scan revealed shocking news: a pancreatic cyst. Doctors initially believed the cyst was benign. However, when they surgically removed it, along with her spleen and part of her pancreas, they discovered it was cancerous. At just 54, and with no family history of pancreatic cancer, Cindy became a pancreatic cancer patient. 

Following Cindy’s recovery from surgery, she underwent chemotherapy, which she believed was just precautionary, and luckily, she tolerated it well. Every two weeks, someone in her close-knit group of friends would send her a present to let her know how loved and appreciated she was. Lily and Cindy’s friends surprised Cindy when she rang the bell outside the hospital to commemorate an important milestone—completing chemotherapy and having no evidence of disease. She had hernia surgery in November 2023 and then marked the start of a new, cancer-free chapter in January 2024 with a family trip to Mexico, one of her favorite places, and a party with her loved ones. 

Cindy was selfless. Instead of putting pancreatic cancer behind her after the family vacation, she was committed to giving back to others going through a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. She volunteered for a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she had been treated. As part of the trial, she received four doses of an immunotherapy that researchers hoped would recognize and target pre-cancerous cells in patients who had already gone through chemotherapy. As part of the trial, she had weekly blood draws. In March 2024, her bloodwork from the trial and her bloodwork from her own oncologist showed alarming results; Cindy’s pancreatic cancer had returned.  

 “The cancer came back so fast that it took the shock factor away. We didn’t have time to sit and process the good news that her treatment was done, before it returned with a vengeance just a couple of months later,” Jared remembers. 

Cindy decided not to tell Lily the cancer came back and that she was undergoing chemotherapy again, so the family could instead focus on Lily’s college graduation in May 2024. “When I returned home after graduation, I was shocked to learn the cancer was back. My mom has always been my best friend, and I never stopped believing her when she said she would survive this recurrence,” Lily shared. 

At her last chemotherapy session, Cindy’s blood levels were so off that she was admitted to the hospital. The pancreatic cancer had spread and punctured her colon wall, causing an extremely life-threatening situation. Following an MRI, doctors told Michael they could possibly perform a surgery to correct the perforation in her colon, but her oncologist believed Cindy was too weak and frail from the cancer to even survive the surgery. After more than 40 years together, Michael, heartbroken, had to tell Cindy that she was going to pass away from this horrible disease. He gathered their children and their closest relatives and friends to say their goodbyes before she passed away peacefully on August 21, 2024, just five days after her 56^th birthday. “This whole experience was surreal. Cindy never wanted Jared and Lily to see that she was suffering. Up until her last breath, she was a mom first,” Michael remembers. 

Cindy left notes for Michael, Jared, and Lily, and Michael’s was even read aloud at her funeral, attended by more than 700 people—a testament to how deeply loved she was by her huge circle of friends and family. Cindy’s friends distributed hundreds of orange heart pins and heart bracelets at the funeral because orange was her favorite color. According to her friends, from her wardrobe to her hair, orange radiated her warmth and vibrancy.  

Following her passing, the Leffs established the Cindy Leff Memorial Fund, which has raised more than $70,000 for Lustgarten-funded pancreatic cancer research. The Leffs are also honoring her legacy through Team Cindalicious at Lustgarten’s New York City Walk for Research on May 4, 2025. The team has raised more than $34,000 to date, and the family anticipates over 100 friends and relatives joining together to walk in Cindy’s memory. Michael, Jared, and Lily plan to make the walk an annual tradition and will be distributing orange pins in Cindy’s honor.  

“We’re so grateful to everyone who has donated in Cindy’s memory, and to all of Lustgarten’s donors who are making a difference in fighting this disease. We want to do whatever we can to make sure no other family goes through this,” Michael emphasized. “This disease was so fast and so mean when it came back, and it took the life of an angel.” 

The Leffs haven’t made any Mother’s Day plans yet, other than knowing they’ll spend the day together remembering Cindy and doing something she would have enjoyed, like going to Central Park or to a restaurant. “Every day without my mom is hard. We move forward, but we’re not trying to move on. She was everything to all of us,” Lily said.  

On the 21st of every month, to mark the anniversary of her passing, Michael, Jared, and Lily get together and have started inviting one additional person important in Cindy’s life. “We talk about Cindy in the present tense because we believe she is still very much with us,” Michael shared. “We call her the puppeteer, in charge of the strings and running the show—just like she has always done.”