Nine-year-old Eitan’s life turned upside down in a matter of days. Once a healthy, curious and energetic child, he was diagnosed with life-threatening liver cancer. “Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to process how severe his condition was. When we got the diagnosis, I went into survival mode, pushing my emotions aside to focus on taking action,” says Einat Kaniger, Eitan’s 50-year-old mother, a high school teacher from Kfar Yona.
A Hebrew message of Eitan thanking the fallen hero, Yedidya Bloch
(Video: Courtesy of the family)
A single mother, Einat has one child – Eitan. “Over summer break, I signed him up for a dog camp at his request. He loves animals,” she recalls. “The night before the camp ended, during dinner, he complained about rib pain and stood up from the table. I said, ‘Eitan, what are you talking about?’ Before I could finish the sentence, he collapsed onto the couch, screaming and crying, pointing to his stomach.”
Alarmed, Einat immediately called Eitan’s pediatrician. Hearing his screams in the background and knowing the boy well, the doctor suspected something unusual and referred them to a clinic, suspecting appendicitis. “After giving him some Nurofen, he calmed down a bit, and I carried him to the clinic in my arms,” Einat says. “The doctor examined him, noted that his posture was concerning, and gave me a referral to the emergency room but suggested we wait until morning.”
That night, Eitan was restless and in pain. “He vomited, and every few moments he had a new complaint: ‘Mom, I need to pee,’ ‘Mom, it hurts,’ all while half asleep,” Einat recounts. “The next morning, I had an appointment to spay our dog, so I asked a neighbor to watch him until I got back. When I returned from the vet, I saw how pale he was. I tried to help him sit up, but he couldn’t. I picked him up again and rushed to his pediatrician, who also works at Meir Hospital. He looked at Eitan, immediately called the hospital, and asked them to prepare an operating room, suspecting appendicitis.”
At the pediatric emergency department at Meir Hospital, Eitan underwent a series of routine tests, followed by a CT scan. The results came back quickly. A doctor approached Einat and explained, “Your son’s appendix is fine, but the CT scan revealed a large tumor in his liver that has already spread.” She added that Eitan would receive the best treatment at Schneider Children’s Medical Center.
“The doctor accompanied us in the ambulance transfer from Kfar Saba to Petah Tikva,” Einat recalls. “I was still in complete denial. I kept telling myself, ‘A tumor? Okay, they’ll go in, remove it, fix my child, and we’ll go home.’ But that wasn’t the case.” Eitan was admitted to the ICU, where he stayed for six days. During that time, his hemoglobin levels dropped to 5, and his abdomen swelled with fluid.
Once his condition stabilized, Dr. Helen Toledano, a pediatric oncologist at Schneider, explained to Einat that her son had a complex type of cancer and outlined the tests he would need to undergo. “At that point, I still didn’t understand what oncology had to do with us. I didn’t grasp that the tumor was cancerous, and then she’s talking about biopsies and the fear of metastases,” Einat says. “I found an empty room in the ICU, went inside, and broke down crying. A doctor came in, sat beside me, and hugged me silently without saying a word.”
Toledano explained, “Eitan developed two types of cancer – a pediatric liver cancer and an adult liver cancer. The disease was present in both liver lobes: the left lobe had a massive tumor, and the right had numerous small metastases. The challenge was that, while pediatric liver cancer responds well to chemotherapy, this treatment is ineffective against adult liver cancer. Despite the odds, we decided to proceed with chemotherapy, and remarkably, the treatment worked. Eitan’s condition improved.”
However, the chemotherapy only worked on the pediatric cancer. The second cancer remained and required an urgent liver transplant to save his life. Schneider Children’s Medical Center, a national leader in pediatric organ transplants, has given hundreds of children a new chance at life, with success rates comparable to the world’s leading centers. In this regard, Eitan was lucky – but the road ahead was far from easy.
“Since neither I nor my family members were suitable donors, I started searching for a liver for my son,” Einat shares. “The first step was connecting with the ‘Larger Than Life’ organization while setting up a command center at home.” A post she wrote online went viral, but no suitable donor was found. Then, on October 29, she received the news that a matching liver had been donated by the late Staff Sergeant Major Yedidya Bloch, 31, a kind and handsome man who had fallen in Lebanon, leaving behind a pregnant wife. His family’s decision to donate his organs saved the lives of six people.
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“When the transplant coordinator told us there was a match, I immediately went to Rambam Health Care Campus to confirm that the donor liver was suitable for Eitan,” says Dr. Michael Gurevich, head of the transplant and liver surgery unit at Schneider. “Once the match was confirmed, I removed the left lobe of Yedidya’s liver and rushed it back to Schneider. I had to completely remove Eitan’s damaged liver and replace it with the donor lobe. As Eitan grows, the transplanted lobe will expand to the size of a normal liver.”
In a heartfelt video Eitan shared after the transplant, he spoke with a trembling voice. “For those who don’t know, my liver came from a soldier named Yedidya. I was so scared of the surgery, but I made it through – thanks to you, Yedidya, who is up there in heavan. I really appreciate you, and to me, you’re like a brother."