Run-over amateur runner goes home for holidays
09/13/2012 07:13
15-year-old amateur runner who was intentionally run over 13 days ago by driver of an all-terrain vehicle discharged.
TIGIST BITAU Photo: Courtesy Kaplan Medical Center
Tigist Bitau, the 15-year-old amateur runner who was intentionally run over 13
days ago by the driver of an all-terrain vehicle, was discharged Wednesday from
Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot for outpatient rehabilitation at the Beit
Loewenstein rehabilitation hospital in Ra’anana.
The girl, an Israel
champion field runner who was seriously injured in the incident, said she
couldn’t believe that she would be able to go home for Rosh Hashana and
celebrate with her family.
“I wish for myself that in the new year, I’ll
be able to run again,” Bitau said.
Before she left Bitau thanked the
doctors and nurses in Kaplan’s orthopedics department and the teachers in
Kaplan’s in-house school. During her stay she had also had private algebra
lessons from a retired math teacher to make up what she had missed in
class.
Chief of orthopedics Dr. Shaul Sagiv said that after her surgery
and medical care, Bitau’s condition improved rapidly. He had told her soon after
her operation that he thought she would be able to put her running shoes back on
within six months of her injury.
“She is young and strong, and her
ability to be rehabilitated is high,” Sagiv said.