When she was eight years old, Yael Aloni, now 23, underwent heart transplant surgery at the Rabin Medical Center's Beilinson Hospital. Now, 15 years later, her family members are launching a mass fundraising campaign to get her the same surgery again.
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The campaign aims to raise one million shekels to cover the ongoing living expenses of Yael’s mother, Dorit, and her sister, Zohar, who are with her on the long journey for a second heart and kidney transplant surgery, this time in the U.S.
Aloni, the youngest sibling in her family, was only three months old when she contracted a severe flu and its complication that affected her heart muscle.
"A moment of joy over a sweet baby girl joining her three siblings turned into a tremor that changed our lives," Aloni’s family members recounted.
As a child, Yael lived with many physical limitations. "Even simple viruses and common illnesses could risk her life. While other girls her age played in the playground and went to parties, when she was eight, she suffered a heart failure and underwent a heart transplant," according to her family.
Her first heart was donated by the parents of Omri Gilor, a 12-year-old boy who died after playing in the sand dunes near his home. Omri dug a tunnel for himself, but it collapsed and buried him underneath.
I choose to fight for my life again, and I'm confident that I'll win this time too
For three days, he remained in the hospital until it was determined that he was in a state of brain death. His parents, who decided to donate his organs, shared that two months prior, he had asked his mother to sign an Adi card (an organ donor card in Israel).
Throughout her life, Aloni has done everything she can to live a normal life, and at 16, she even participated in the final 5-kilometer segment of the Tel Aviv Marathon.
"My health condition didn't stop me from being a happy child," Aloni told Ynet.
"I always maintained my optimism, had fun, and loved to play and dance." After completing her studies, she volunteered as a teacher-soldier as part of the national service program in her high school.
Back in April, Aloni's medical condition deteriorated significantly, and she was admitted to Beilinson Hospital, suffering from heart failure and kidney failure. "Everything happened about three weeks ago. One night, my sister suddenly collapsed. She was dying for four days, and that’s when the doctors realized that she needed a kidney transplant as well.”
“Yael was urgently flown to the only hospital in the world that could save her life – one in San Diego, California. The medical staff told us that she wouldn't survive in Israel because she urgently needed transplants," her brother Amit recounted.
Dr. Ben Ben-Avraham, a senior physician in Beilinson Hospital’s Cardiology Center, added: "Today, there’s a shortage of heart donations in Israel, and it may take too long to find a suitable heart for Yael. Since the United States is a large country, there’s a better chance of finding a heart there in time.”
“I helped Yael establish contact with the U.S. medical center, and am accompanying her remotely. I pray that Yael will find a new heart quickly and return to Israel for further treatment," he said.
In the fundraising campaign, the family wrote, "Yael's medical condition isn’t good, and her kidneys are also failing. She urgently needs a heart and kidney transplant and, until then, she needs to be under the care of a skilled and experienced medical team. She’s expected to undergo a long waiting process for a heart, transplantation, close monitoring and rehabilitation.“
“Yael and our mother, Dorit, are together and preparing to stay in California for about a year and a half, according to the hospital's assessment. We need your help to allow Yael to go through this surgery and recovery in the only place that can give her back her life,” the family added.
The mother and daughter's ongoing living expenses amount to one million shekels, and the U.S. hospital requires the family to have two escorts. So far, after five days of the campaign, only about 40% of the target has been raised.
"It's not easy for us to launch such a public campaign. It's not easy for Yael either," the family said. "It's a really challenging and scary situation," Aloni shared from the hospital, "but I've already won in the past.”
“I choose to fight for my life again, and I'm confident that I'll win this time too. I feel surrounded by love, many people who don't know me are donating, and they’re working hard to make the fundraising campaign successful, and that gives me the strength to go on," she said.