BURBANK RESIDENTS RALLY TO WOMAN IN NEED.

Byline: --Jason Kandel

The first part of Roni Razankova's prayer has been answered. She's raised enough money to bring her cancer-stricken mother, Rachel, to the United States from Macedonia to get chemotherapy.

She got help from fellow congregants at Temple Beth Emet in Burbank. They wrote letters. They held a bike-a-thon to raise money. They saw donations pour in from around the country to help her mother, a 64-year-old retired nurse, fight cancer.

``I'm so overwhelmed with happiness,'' Roni told me this week. ``I feel blessed.''

Roni and her mother are overwhelmed are relieved the community has been there to help them. Roni hopes it's enough to help her mother beat the liver cancer that has invaded her body.

Rachel Razankova was diagnosed with abdominal cancer two years ago. Doctors removed her stomach and gave her chemotherapy, but she had to stop after two sessions because of really bad side effects.

But then she began feeling better and thought maybe the cancer had gone into remission. A routine checkup said otherwise. The cancer spread to her liver. Macedonian doctors acknowledged there was little they could do and suggested she seek help outside the country.

That's where Roni's rabbi, Mark Sobel, came in. He spoke of Rachel's troubles in sermons. And helped get the word out that she was in danger of dying.

Because of those efforts, Rachel is here, in the United States, today. When she's not at Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center in Los Angeles, Rachel's resting at her daughter's Valley Village apartment. She gets up at 6 a.m. -- she doesn't sleep well. She tries to eat, but most days she can only take in small portions of oatmeal.

When Roni gets home from work, the two walk through the neighborhood for a little exercise. But she can only go for 20 minutes before she gets too tired to go on. Her one session of chemotherapy has wiped her out. Read Roni's account on page 6.