A tragic car accident allowed 27 year-old Tal Almos to finally see clearly again. When 27-year-old Tal Almos lost his father to cancer two years ago, there was no question about whether to donate his father's healthy organs, knowing that he himself was in need of a transplant. Sadly, Tal was well aware that one person's tragedy answers another person's prayers, and such was truly his case. When a man close to his own age was tragically killed recently in a car accident, Tal received the long awaited call to have his cornea transplants. He had waited for six years for this moment, and finally it had come.
His story is one of strength and courage. It began when at age 17, he began to have problems with sight in his right eye. He was diagnosed with a rare eye disease, which affects the cornea, causing the eye to have difficulty focusing. Tal, close to beginning his army service, was unwilling to even consider giving up his dream of enlisting in the army Golani brigade. And since his left eye was then unaffected, he learned to shoot with his left hand. Yet, he became an outstanding soldier and an officer during his service. As fate would have it, his situation only deteriorated upon completing military service, and the disease began to also affect his left eye. He would now need a cornea transplant in both eyes. As he waited, he furthered his education, completing his B.A. in Computer Science. Today he works in the high tech industry.
Thanks to the cornea transplant, he can now see the world clearly again. And though the loss of his father is still very painful, he finds comfort in knowing that his father's eyes have also opened the lights to someone else's darkness.
When more than 500 real estate, finance and pharmaceutical executives gather for the 20th annual gala for the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center (AFRMC) at the Plaza Hotel on November 11, they’ll be doing more than raising funds to support critically needed programs at the most prominent medical center in the Middle East.
A year ago, 71 year-old Gershon Gefen underwent a heart transplant with the "Heart 2 device," a permanent artificial heart, at Rabin Medical Center's Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, headed by Dr. Eyal Porat. Going abroad was the last thing on his mind.
When 51 year old Ilana Golan found out that she was suffering from lymphoma and would now be a patient at the hospital where she herself worked, her world seemed to turn upside down.