Girl's organs save Jerusalem boy in life-saving heart transplant

A young boy in Jerusalem received a life-saving heart transplant thanks to the organ donation of a six-and-a-half-year-old girl from Kafr Qasim, an Arab-Israeli city. Rafael, the recipient, had been at Clalit-Schneider Children's Medical Center for nine months, battling a complex congenital heart defect that required him to be placed on a Berlin Heart ventricular assist device after his heart collapsed during surgery.

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We went through many hardships. I had to tell the family that we were not moving in the right direction, that his heart was failing, and that he would most likely need a transplant.

Rafael's condition had been dire, with doctors having to inform his family that his heart was failing and a transplant was his only hope. He adapted remarkably to the mechanical device, even reminding his mother to connect it at night. His mother noted his awareness that the machine was keeping him alive, and his embrace of it as a source of strength.

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Suddenly, we saw a different child. A child who had barely been functioning began eating again, gaining weight, and smiling.

Meanwhile, the donor, Saba, was on a trip with her father in Eilat when a congenital weakness in a brain vein ruptured, causing a fatal bleed. Her father recalled her enjoying a day at the beach just hours before her death. When asked about organ donation, he said the family agreed immediately. "My daughter is gone," he said, his voice broken. "What am I going to do with her heart?"

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There is something remarkable about children. They adapt to this reality. Rafael learned to live with the device and to protect the tubes as though they were part of him.