It started from a broken cornflakes bowl and ended in a war for life

A story that begins with a small fall on the stairs and a shard from a broken bowl almost ended in death after an artery injury, but the miracle that happened to Yaela is really not the end of this story, which connects willpower, complicated surgery and even a little luck

Walla!

health

13/02/2022

Sunday, 13 February 2022, 08:27 Updated: 11:06

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

About a year ago, the life of Yaela Danziger, 26, from Raanana, changed from end to end when she went up to her room in her house and missed one of the stairs.

She tripped forward with the bowl of cornflakes she was holding in her hand and it shattered to pieces as a result of the fall.

One shard of the bowl that splashed from the step hit Danziger's neck and nearly led to her death.

"One of the glasses shattered on the step and came back directly to my neck, in a dangerous position. Suddenly I noticed that my left hand refuses to collect what had fallen - as if there was no connection between me and her," Danziger recalls.

"In the second director my white shirt turned blood red. I was stressed ... I managed to go down the two stairs when I shouted to my parents, who luckily were at home and they immediately attached a towel to my neck."

Danziger's parents called MDA and called for help. "The ambulance took 4-5 minutes to arrive, and those were the longest minutes of my life."

"It all happened very quickly: photos, a shock room and from there they put me in surgery to close the deep incision, while I emphasize to the doctors that something is wrong with my hand and that they will check what is happening with it," she recalls.

More on Walla!

Researchers from Israel have succeeded in creating a human backbone to treat the paralyzed

To the full article

"I knew I had to fight and do everything to save my hand."

Yaela Danziger and the team of doctors from the multidisciplinary clinic at Ichilov Hospital (Photo: Jenny Yerushalmi)

When Yaela wakes up from the operation, she realizes that a miracle has happened to her, and that she is alive despite the heavy bleeding.

But when she tries to raise her hand, she refuses to get up.

Yaela suspects that something is wrong and tries to find out from her doctors, but they dismiss the issue as a matter of 'trauma of the body' and she is released to her home after five days of hospitalization.

"I could not hold a cup without it falling from my hand"

But the condition of the hand does not improve.

"In the days after the release the hand pain became unbearable, I could not hold a cup or mug without it falling from my hand, raise my hand to wash my head or even change a shirt. I knew I had to fight and do everything to save my hand. This time I asked to go to a nerve recovery clinic "Peripheries at Ichilov Hospital," she says.

After Dr. Yuval Shapira, director of the Peripheral Nerve Reconstruction Unit in Ichilov, diagnosed a brachial plexus injury, continued follow-up and treatment by the multidisciplinary team for brachial plexus injury. To the movement and feeling of the upper limb, "Dr. Shapira explained.

"This is one of the most anatomically complex areas and the treatment of these injuries requires special specialization, advanced surgical capabilities, and a deep understanding of upper limb function. Neurologists, electrophysiology team, radiologists and restorers. "

According to Dr. Shapira, “The fact that the surgeries themselves are performed by a number of senior surgeons from different specialties significantly improves the decision-making process, allows for surgical flexibility, and contributes greatly to the efficiency and quality of the surgery.

The team of surgeons includes Dr. Tamir Fritsch, director of the hand surgery unit, Dr. Frank Atlan, director of the hand microsurgery, Dr. Daniel Turgeman, a senior physician in the hand surgery unit, in addition to the neurosurgery team from the Peripheral Neurosurgery Unit, which includes D. "R. Marga Serpimova, a specialist in neurosurgery, and I."

During the operation, the team of doctors decides that the nerve in the shoulder can be repaired with the help of an implant taken from Yaela's leg.

Danziger and the team of doctors from Ichilov (Photo: Jenny Yerushalmi)

Yaela, who has been involved in sports all her life and is a graduate of Wingate College and a graduate student in physical education, refused to accept the situation: "The first sentence I asked the doctors was to get my handstand back, no matter how long it takes. Nothing will stop me. "

A few months after the injury, after completing an initial examination and follow-up, it was decided within the multidisciplinary clinic on the need for surgical intervention to save the function of the hand.

In a complex and lengthy operation, the multidisciplinary team of surgeons worked on reconstructing the damaged nerves, which included extensive exposure and release of the brachial plexus while undergoing control and intra-surgical electrophysiological examination, and the use of advanced microsurgical techniques.

Based on the findings, it was decided to use nerve implants from the leg to restore the nerve damage.

More on Walla!

• The tumor discovered in this man's brain turned out to be something repulsive and completely different

• This is the most optimistic article we have ever published on cancer

• Suffering from back pain?

  A smart device has cured the pain for hundreds of thousands worldwide

The operation, which was supposed to last 4 hours, is extended to 8 hours and ends successfully, but Yaela expects a long and difficult recovery.

"In the months after the surgery and unending physical and mental work, we began to see sadness in the paralyzed muscle. The doctors were amazed at the rapid improvement in my hand function and said that it is rare to see such an amazing improvement in such a short time. I got a completely different meaning to life. "Every day we get stronger from the outside as well," she honestly shares.

"I learned that it is also allowed to break down and show that it hurts. I learned to stop, look and observe how much our lives can be changed in one moment and that all that matters is actually taking advantage of every moment and enjoying the here and now."

• health

• news

Tags

• cornflakes

• fragment

• shoulder

• Domestic accidents