Michael Wolgon, 92, arrived at the hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage, where he was pronounced dead. "" It was important for us to donate the organs of my grandfather, who survived the Holocaust and saved his life. "
Saved three people in his death.
The late Michael Volgon
Photo:
Courtesy of the family
The late Michael Volgon arrived at Rambam Hospital following a brain hemorrhage and was pronounced brain dead, following which his family agreed to donate organs in order to save lives.
"Grandpa was almost 92 years old at the time of his death. It was important to us to donate his organs so that he would continue to live and be righteous even after his death. He is the only Holocaust survivor who survived the ghetto of his entire family," his granddaughter Tali said excitedly.
Michael's two kidneys were transplanted, each, into two 74-year-old men at Rambam Hospital, and the liver was transplanted at Hadera, 75, at Hadassah Hospital.
According to Dr. Avi Weissman, Deputy Director of Rambam Hospital, "This is a life-saving case that breaks the boundaries previously accepted for organ donation in terms of donor age. This is the kind of task that requires the willingness of staff, including transplant coordinators and skilled surgeons, to "Available at Rambam and act in immediate reading 24 hours a day to make sure that life-saving organ donation is underway."
Dr. Tamar Ashkenazi, director of the National Transplant Center, said that "the significant component is the function of the organ.
Age is an important component, but not always the key.
It is known that liver and kidneys can be taken from donors at older ages.
"In recent years, with the rise in awareness of healthy eating and exercise, the biological age of people is younger than their chronological age, so we have raised the age of donors in all organs, each organ according to its characteristics."
Dr. Ashkenazi added that “this is the oldest donor we have had so far.
His organs were of good quality and there was no hesitation among the transplanting teams regarding the organs donated.
"Such a transplant motivates the hospitals and medical staff that it is possible that there is no age limit in saving lives."
Dr. Abed Khalaila, director of the transplant unit at Hadassah, and Dr. Ashraf Imam and Dr. Oded Arazi, who performed the transplant at Hadassah Hospital, said that "Anyone who has been waiting for a liver for so long knows how much the contribution is in saving lives - giving life re.
I am happy with Hadera and her family, and know that she has received an excellent liver from the oldest donor in the country.
The liver is well absorbed and Hadera recovers slowly and satisfactorily.
"For us, performing a liver transplant from an older person is definitely a significant challenge, and it requires a team of surgeons experienced in complex and delicate surgeries, even more than usual in transplant cases."
His granddaughter Tali went on to share with her grandfather that "in the Holocaust he lost his entire immediate and extended family. His father managed to make a hole in the barbed wire fence, and smuggled it out from under it and fled to the forests, hiding with a Ukrainian family.
"He and my grandmother immigrated to Israel 30 years ago, but unfortunately I did not get to know her - she passed away 27 years ago, exactly the day Grandpa fell and received the blow to the head that caused the cerebral hemorrhage.
"For the last 10 years he has lived completely alone. To me he was righteous and an angel, and now he continues to be like that when his organs live in other people."