Organ donation has been considered one of the most controversial issues in the medical field raising ethical debates and often evoking heated emotional responses, but according to Professor Dan Aravot, head of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva, the first month of 2015 has seen an increase in number of families willing to donate the organs of loved ones they have lost. An infant who tragically died after swallowing his fathers pain medication, and four other adults who died over the past week, had saved the lives of 15 Israelis who were in desperate need of an organ transplant. Rabin Medical Center performed 22 transplants surgeries in one week. Among the recipients were a young man who had been waiting for a kidney transplant for a decade, a mother of five who received new lungs, and a man who received a liver and a kidney. Dudu Cohen, 35, a blind man who operates a coffee cart in Jerusalems Teddy Stadium, received a liver and a kidney. "I was just leaving the hospital after finishing my dialysis when transplant coordinator Rachel Michowitz called me with the exciting news that I was receiving both a kidney and a liver. I cried tears of joy and rushed back to the hospital," he said. Riad Mohammed Wattad, 31, has been waiting for a kidney transplant for a decade. "This is a true birthday gift. I am reborn," Wattad said. "This is a great achievement and I am thrilled 2015 began with a high number of transplants. Heart and lung transplants are a complex process that requires professionalism and extensive team work. We saved many lives in difficult and complicated situations," Aravot said Professor Eytan Mor, director of the Organ Transplantation Department at Rabin Medical Center, noted: "The large number of transplants that took place in recent days required the recruitment of our entire transplant apparatus. We have operated nonstop for a week and went home just for a few hours. Even doctors who werent on call were made to cancel their plans and assist. Though this is a great sacrifice, we are committed to saving lives.
