Woman with shrapnel in brain gives healthy birth

Julie Halperin, 30, who was seriously injured in 2002 TA terror attack on Rehov Allenby, is a new mother of a baby girl.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Shrapnel baby 311 (photo credit: Kaplan Medical Center)
Shrapnel baby 311
(photo credit: Kaplan Medical Center)
A 30-year-old woman who was seriously injured in a Tel Aviv terror attack eight-and-a- half years ago gave birth over the weekend to a healthy baby girl at Rehovot’s Kaplan Medical Center.
Julie Halperin, a resident of the city, suffered a shrapnel wound to her head when a terrorist blew up at the Coffee Shop cafe in Rehov Allenby, killing one woman and wounding 32, including Halperin.
Dr. Avi Metzkel, head of the hospital’s high-risk pregnancy unit, said he and colleagues closely watched her condition closely throughout the pregnancy and delivery. Halperin had teetered for four days between survival and death after the explosion; fortunately, the shrapnel stopped in a “safe place” in her brain and did not hit a major artery. The woman who died in the attack suffered a similar injury and succumbed to her wounds a few hours later.
During the pregnancy, Metzkel consulted with a neurosurgeon in the hospital to find out whether pushing the baby out would cause harm, considering the fact that the shrapnel remains in her head. Fortunately, there was no extra risk, and the pregnancy and delivery were normal. The members of the obstetrics team, however, were fully aware of what she had gone through and gave her extraordinary emotional support, even though she did not undergo any unusual medical procedures.