Beilinson Hospital celebrates 630 lung transplants and 20 years of lung transplantation in Israel
"Love Thy Neighbor"
Last night, the annual lung transplantees event was held, in which hundreds of transplantees and their families arrived to celebrate the new life they received as a gift.
In Beilinson, the only hospital in Israel to perform lung transplants, the hope is that next year the 95 patients on the waiting list will be able to join the event.
Mrs. Nehama Rivlin, the president's wife and a patient of Prof. Mordechai Kramer, graced the transplantees and Prof. Mordechai Kramer, director of the Beilinson Lung Institute, with her presence.
Prof. Mordechai Kramer, Director of the Beilinson Lung Institute: "The field of transplants is the peak of medicine. Each transplant is a medical challenge for the treating staff. For me, every transplant is a journey of treatment that combines waiting and anticipation until the moment when I can inform the patient that suitable lungs have been found. Lung transplantation offers new life to patients who previously were connected to oxygen and who would not have survived without the lungs they received. I feel emotional every single time that I meet those who have received this gift of life and have survived for many years and continue with their lives."
Wife of the President of the State of Israel, Mrs. Nehama Rivlin:
"I look at you, dear transplantees, and at your family members, and I think to myself - what a difficult and twisted path you've gone so far. On the one hand - the limitations in your daily activities, and the breathing difficulties, such great difficulties! While on the other hand, the anxiety and fear of the transplantation procedure. I know - transplants do improve the quality of life. I also know how difficult it is to be a 'Transplantee'. All of you are conducting a breathtaking daily struggle. You all choose life each and every single day."
On the right: Prof. Mordechai Kramer , director of the Beilinson Lungs Center, Nechama Rivlin and Liz – a lung transplantee.
Photo: Elitzur Reuveni
Rivlin spoke of the great responsibility she believes all transplantees have, saying: "As transplantees, I believe you have another job, beyond your recovery. To encourage the public to donate and be partners. Two months ago we all followed the sad story of the late Ilai Nir. Ilai and his father, Dr. Omri Nir, fell to their deaths in Nahal Tze'elim. When the "sky fell" on her beloved family, Shiri, Ilai's mother, chose to donate his organs. and save lives. Ilai's heart is now beating in the body of an eight-and-a-half-year-old boy. His lungs were transplanted in a 55-year-old woman. In his death Ilai gave these people life. A week later, with the same inspirational nobility - Muhammad Mahameed from Umm el-Fahm chose to donate the organs of his one-year-old baby son and save lives. How brave she is. How generous. And powerful. And loving. And forceful. Frida and Lutfi, Hiam's mother and nine-year-old brother, were killed in an accident in which Hiam himself was critically wounded. "It does not matter to us whether it will go to Jews or Arabs," Hiam's father said. " For the loved ones of the transplantees and their families, the organs have no religion, no race, no sex, no nationality. It saves lives and gives birth to hope. You carry this message in your body and it is important that you pass it on. I would like to thank Beilinson Hospital, the angels in white, and everyone involved in this complex, difficult and unique activity. And to bless all of us, with lots of health."
