Thirteen-year-old Ariel Yered, whose brain was nearly split in two in a mortar
attack when he was only 15 months old, on Monday celebrated his bar mitzva with
his family at Jerusalem’s Alyn Hospital, the place where he was treated after
his near-death experience.
At the event at Alyn, Yered, his parents Lia
and Yossi Yered and his four siblings thanked the staffers for their work and
showed them a film of his life since birth, including the attack and his long
stay in the hospital. The family then visited the Western Wall, where they
celebrated both Yered’s bar mitzva and his miraculous recovery. His functioning
is almost completely normal, thanks to his rehabilitation.
During the
second intifada, shrapnel from a mortar in Atzmona, where the family lived at
the time, severely wounded Yered in his head and body. The baby was taken to
Soroka University Medical Center without a pulse and not breathing. One piece of
shrapnel cut his brain in half from left to right and caused severe hemorrhaging
that pressed on his brain cells. The doctors were doubtful that he would survive
or, if he did, feared that he could be a “vegetable” for the rest of his
life.
Yered arrived at Alyn only three weeks later. He was unable to
communicate and could not even identify his parents. But thanks to the devoted
staff’s efforts, his condition improved. He underwent intensive physiotherapy,
hydrotherapy, occupational therapy and communications therapy. Although
eventually discharged, Yered even today still goes to the hospital for
rehabilitation.
As a sign of his successful treatment and return to
normal life, Yered and his family told the Alyn professionals that he rides a
bicycle, reads the Torah and plays soccer.