An alert and courageous policeman jumped into a moving car whose driver had fainted – saving the driver's life briefly, as well as preventing what could have been a major accident. Elsewhere, a soldier's blood saved a boy's life.
Detective Yuri Volman of Petach Tikvah told Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine what happened in the first incident:
“I was on my way home from my night shift last night [Wednesday], and at one of the intersections I saw a slow-moving car crossing through a red light. I wanted to see what was going on, so I drove alongside him and I saw an elderly man with his head slumped over to the side in an unnatural position. Something was clearly wrong. I stopped my car and ran over to him, and then I opened the door and lifted the hand-break... There were other cars on the road, and he was already going into the opposite lane; if I hadn’t stopped the car, it would have crashed into others.”
Other people on the street at the time called Magen David Adom. “I received instructions by phone how to treat him,” Volman said, although his efforts were only briefly successful. “I took the driver out of the car, and luckily, a civilian ambulance passed by and provided a mask and we did artificial resuscitation. He was then evacuated to the hospital in serious but stable condition. Sadly, later we heard that he had died.” The driver was 70 years old.
Asked if he realized that he was endangering his own life at the same time, Volman said, “The truth is that at that minute, I didn’t think of anything like that; I just saw someone who needed to be helped, and so that’s what I did… I think anyone else would have done the same.”
Happier Ending: Bone Marrow Donation Saves Boy's Life
A happier ending occurred in another act of life-saving kindness. Tzvi Lax, a 20-year-old soldier from Jerusalem serving in the Nahal Hareidi battalion, reunited this week with a 7-year-old boy named Nimrod – and the two celebrated the fact that Tzvi’s bone marrow donation a year ago had saved Nimrod’s life.
Nimrod was suffering from a second bout of leukemia when a search began for the only thing that could save his life – someone whose bone marrow would be a perfect match for Nimrod, and who would be willing to donate. Tzvi agreed to be tested, was found to be a match, was called in for the donation – and then had to wait a year before being told that in fact, he had saved a little boy’s life.
“It’s an indescribable sensation,” Tzvi said, “to know that someone is living because of you. There’s nothing better… All I can say is that everyone should run to Ezer Mizion blood bankand give a sampling of blood – a simple act that can save someone’s life.”