Ido Yogev, editor of The Marker, revealed in a special column he published that Major Amishar Ben David, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip, donated a kidney to him a little over a year ago.
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Yogev wrote: "Amisha donated a kidney 'along the way,' because for him it was just one part of a whole of giving. This is understandable for him, but it is important to clarify that this is not the reality of kidney donation. This act of donation is an unimaginably great act.".
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He talked about the donation and rehabilitation process: "While I was walking slowly and with effort through the hallways to begin my rehabilitation, he had already made a trip to a cafe in the nearby mall.".
Yogev added, "I knew very little about Amishar before the transplant. I didn't know his name or where he (Ali) lived until about a month before the surgery. Amishar knew where I was from, what I did, what we were similar in and what we were different from, and we let him decide what was more or less important to him in choosing the donor.".
He mentions: "No one would have forced Amishar to return to the reserves after the donation. But it was one of the things on his mind, things he would not compromise on.".
He wrote about the meeting at the hospital: "When we met before the surgery in Beilinson, I learned how central giving was in his life, and the speakers at his funeral only confirmed this. I learned from them that I was not the only one who owed him his life, about young people who were at crucial crossroads where their lives were about to deteriorate. Amishar caught them in time, talked to them, took responsibility for them and changed their course.".
Yogev wrote about Amishar: "I was the one who was in Amishar's path. He passed me like a comet, and it is only thanks to him that I am writing these words, and will soon sit down to eat delicious food, and continue to enjoy my life.".
