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Community Rallies For Siblings Mourning Mahwah Mom Years After Dad's Death

Just more than eight years after losing their father, a pair of Bergen County siblings lost their mom to cancer.

More than $4,700 had been raised on a GoFundMe for Collin, 15, and Reese, 12, Polakowski of Wyckoff as of Wednesday afternoon.

More than $4,700 had been raised on a GoFundMe for Collin, 15, and Reese, 12, Polakowski of Wyckoff as of Wednesday afternoon.

Photo Credit: GOFUNDME

More than $4,700 had been raised on a GoFundMe for Collin, 15, and Reese, 12, Polakowski of Wyckoff as of Wednesday afternoon.

Their father Mark Polakowski died on Dec. 5, 2010. Their mother Desiree Polakowski-Liebowitz, formerly of Mahwah and Hasbrouck Heights, died on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Condolences poured in.

"Desiree you were a beautiful and inspirational woman inside and out," one friend wrote on Facebook.

"You always put on a brave face and were so open to share your experience," another said.

Desiree was a school psychologist at Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, and in the Wyckoff and West Orange school districts. She studied school psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck.

Visitation for Desiree will be on Thursday, Jan. 10 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the VanderPlaat Funeral Home in Wyckoff. A funeral Mass will be at St. Elizabeth's Church in Wyckoff on Friday, Jan. 11 at 10 a.m.

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