It all began with a routine case of flu which is common in many homes during the course of the winter. The father, an upstanding avreich, felt that his case of flu was taking longer than usual to pass and went to the doctor. It was diagnosed as pneumonia but it refused to respond to the regular treatment, which caused the doctor to believe that it was the Swine Flu, which is a disease difficult, if not impossible, to overcome.
By the time he was hospitalized, his major systems had begun collapsing. The doctors tried every means at their disposal to contain the deterioration but at one point, they resigned themselves to the fate that "this patient has only a few hours to live!"
When it reaches the stage where Medicine has no recourse, the only thing left to do is to turn to the Healer of all mankind and to pray for succor. At this point, the name of the patient was circulated throughout all chareidi centers, especially in Jerusalem and in many places such as chadorim and seminaries, people gathered for mass prayers. The heartfelt prayers en masse must have pierced the heavens by their sheer intensity and number.
The severe state brought the hospital administration to request from the ECMO department in the Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva to bring this special apparatus together with a team to operate it, despite the doctors' consensus that it may be too late to be effectual. The ECMO machine is a special support system for patients whose vital systems have stopped functioning. The patient had gone from a normal avreich to near death in a few days.
But the prayers proved to be more powerful because half an hour before the device was supposed to be hooked up, there was a marked improvement in the patient's vital signs: his blood pressure stabilized and his breathing improved. The ECMO machine became superfluous since the progress accelerated without any outside intervention.
When the patient was strong enough, he began walking through the hospital corridors. The entire staff hailed him with tears in their eyes. One of the secular nurses passionately declared, "How did he merit such a miraculous recovery? It is totally incredible. Who can believe that it actually took place, and at such a rapid pace?!"
And another one, seeing him walking along so steadily, exclaimed, "Can this be the patient from Room 4? I can't believe it! We all thought he would already be in another world!"
Dr. Biderman said, "I must see this patient before his release."
He turned to the family and said,"We operate on the medical plane. You apparently work on a different level altogether. The One on High obviously has His own plans."
The family attribute the miraculous recovery to the many prayers of the tzibbur.
