This is Avigayil. You helped us save her life.

This photo was taken only a few weeks ago at her end of year party at nursery, where she was singing and dancing with all of her friends. This may seem like a normal thing for a 4 year old to be doing however it is something her parents never thought was possible.

Just over 4 years ago, Avigayil was born, 6 weeks early with complications that meant she had to spend the first 100 days of her life in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  Unable to breath on her own, at one point she had over 20 machines helping to keep her alive.  Every breath she took was a fight for survival.

Today, Avigayil is a happy, active 4-year-old, when she is healthy. She can still go from fine to critical in no time at all but thankfully her family are learning to anticipate a lot of her illnesses and are working together with Pulmonologist Dr. Joseph and the team at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre to keep her as healthy as possible. They are hopeful that “One day, maybe we will get to the point where she can get the flu without a trip to PICU”.

After sending us the lovely photograph of Avigayil her mother wrote to us to say:

“Today I cried as I watched her end of the year party. She was singing and dancing and participating with a full heart. I couldn’t help but think about a night shortly after she was born while she was still in intensive care in the NICU. My oldest had a school performance and as she was singing and dancing on stage I cried as well. I cried because I was proud but also because I was so afraid. Would Avigayil ever be able to do something like that? Would she ever have lungs strong enough to breathe on her own, let alone to sing or dance? What would her future hold? Today I got that answer.  While this is not the future I imagined when I was pregnant, it is a reality that we have learned to live with. And still, there are moments that we find Avigayil repeatedly defies expectations. Today was one of those days.”

Our Rosh Hashanah appeal this year is all about Avigayil and how your donations have saved her life – please click the image below to read more and consider donating so you can help save the lives of many more people like
Avigayil.