Meir Zoreah, aged three, returned home to Israel Monday fully recovered from a liver transplant operation performed at a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. nearly a year ago. It was a long and terrible ordeal for the child and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Yitzhak Zoreah of Migdal HaEmek, who thought their son would surely die.
Liver transplants were not performed in Israel when Meir became ill. His journey to the U.S. was made possible by public contributions. They poured in after Michael Zoreah appeared on television to tell the country his son was “dying before our eyes” for lack of funds to send him abroad.
The youngster, accompanied by his father and a physician left for the U.S. last year in a plane equipped as an intensive care unit. During the flight he developed complications and was bleeding internally. On the advice of the doctor, the plane landed in London where Meir was hospitalized for several weeks.
When he finally arrived in Pittsburgh, the donor whose liver was to be transplanted was no longer available. Surgery was postponed for several weeks. When finally performed, the operation lasted seven hours. While Meir was recovering, his father and mother took turns being with him. They were helped by the Pittsburgh Jewish community and by friends in Israel who looked after their three other children.
Father and son returned to Israel. Meir was hugged by his mother at the airport. “He is a new boy,” she explained. “At last we are all together again.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
