One IDF soldier was injured by shrapnel during an operational activity inside Lebanon when an explosive device exploded near him.
"I felt something hot in my neck and chest, and I saw blood on my hand," he says. Within minutes, medics in the field stopped the bleeding and quickly evacuated him to the Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat (Safed).
At Ziv, he was immediately taken for urgent surgery, in which doctors drained blood and air from his left lung.
Dr. Alexander Breslavsky, head of trauma at the medical center, explains: "A piece of shrapnel entered the neck and chest area, causing a serious medical condition called ‘pneumothorax’. Fortunately, the damage stopped before the shrapnel hit the heart or a vital blood vessel – this is something that could have ended very differently."
The soldier is now recovering, full of gratitude to the team that treated him: "I've undergone incredible treatment here. The doctors and nurses surround me and take care of everything. Everyone says that it's a miracle the shrapnel didn’t reach the heart – and I completely agree. I have no words to thank the wonderful team here at Ziv that saved my life."