“My name is Yoel Fadel. Today is a very special day for me. My youngest son, Benny, is getting married. He will walk to the wedding canopy with his sweetheart, but I cannot attend the wedding.

For the last few weeks, I have been treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, following a liver transplant for which I waited many years. As it worked out, getting the life-saving liver and celebrating the joyous wedding happened around the same time.

But even though I cannot be there physically, I won’t miss a moment.

With cooperation among the Intensive Care Unit, the Hadassah Telecommunications Department, and the wedding production team, cameras have been installed in the wedding hall. I have a laptop in my room, so I will be able to watch the wedding live from my hospital bed. How amazing!

I feel so grateful to all the people who cared for me day and night and who have brought me to this wonderful day. I have a new liver thanks to my doctors, Dr. Yael Milgrom Klinberger, an expert in gastroenterology and liver diseases; Prof. Rifaat Safadi, Director of the Liver Unit; Dr. Hadar Merhav, head of the Transplant Center; and Dr. Samir Abu Ghazala, Dr. Abed Khalaileh, and Dr. Ashraf Imam. Transplant Coordinator Neta Malka herself called to tell me that they had found a liver for me!

Special thanks to the Intensive Care unit's staff, led by Head Nurse Dvora Kirshenbaum, who treated me with devotion and compassion. For this special day of the wedding, they even festively decorated my hospital room. It has made me so happy.

The laptop is running, the guests are already there, the family is excited, and the staff at Hadassah promised to come over to watch the wedding with me and share my joy. 

I can’t wait to see my beloved son break the glass, remembering Jerusalem. I will remember, not only Jerusalem, but also Hadassah!”

Update: Mr. Fadel did, indeed, witness his son’s wedding on his lap top from Hadassah’s Intensive Care Unit.