A 65-year-old woman became the oldest woman in Israel to give birth when she had her first baby, a son, at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba on Monday. The baby was born healthy after a pregnancy deemed high-risk because of the mother Chaya Shachar's age. Shachar, 65, is a Bnei Brak resident from the Nadvorna hassidic dynasty who has been married to her husband, Shmuel, for 46 years. The couple had been trying unsuccessfully to have children since they married. Though Shachar pursued fertility treatments abroad, a team of doctors at Meir Hospital, led by Dr. Tal Biron-Shental, cared for her throughout her pregnancy. "It is important to me that everyone know there is no despair in this world," Shachar said after her son was born. "The lesson I learned is that you must never give up. God provided us with a child, just as he will provide for the masses." Biron-Shental said the experience was emotional for the entire medical team. "The new parents are so excited, it hasn't even completely sunk in for them," said one member of the medical team. "They are an amazing couple, like a pair of high school kids just radiating pure joy." Shachar and her husband attribute the "great miracle" of their son's birth to a blessing they received from their late rabbi. Shachar praised the doctors and medical staff who took care of her, saying, "Dr. Biron-Shental was the jewel in the crown -- the entire team was wonderful." Biron-Shental said, "She had been a patient of ours in the past, but we did not help her become pregnant, as in Israel it is not allowed [at her age]. She came to us when she was 12 weeks' pregnant. She did the fertility treatment abroad. "This situation is cause for discussion about medicine, ethics and humanity. It is certainly a more risky and problematic pregnancy. Pregnancy is too difficult a burden for women of a certain age to bear, and nature is logical in that it typically prevents women of that age from having children. "This is absolutely not an age at which it is recommended to become pregnant, but my job is to help this woman go home with a healthy baby. "There is also an ethical dilemma here about a 10-year-old child having 75-year-old parents. But I met this couple yearning for a child, and they have a tight-knit community to support them. Their dream came true."
