The people of Israel solute Ronald Johnson!

Lisa Ostrovsky is a 10-year-old Israeli girl suffering from Cystic Fibrosis.

       
              Lisa Ostrovsky                 Ronald  Johnson             

On January 2nd 2000
 During  the change of days Lisa Ostrovsky passed away from our world.  The little girl  was fighting so hard for her life, she never gave up, her little body did.

 
14 December 1999
From  information I received from my doctors Lisa is in critical condition.  She has less than 10% chance of staying alive.

13 December 1999
Last week, Lisa underwent a high-risk operation due to a high fever and an infection locking her food tracts. She is now back on a lung-heart machine and her life is in urgent danger. Find a prayer book or Bible, say Psalms 121 and 130, and beseech the Almighty to send a complete recovery to Lisa Chaya bas Sarah.

27 NOVEMBER 1999
Lisa has undergone a second operation to seal some blood vessels which were causing blood in her lungs. Lisa's lungs also have fluid in them. She is back on the lung machine to breathe for her as her lungs are not yet capable. Her situation is "critical but stable."

26 NOVEMBER 1999
In the dramatic culmination of a long and difficult ordeal, 10-year-old Lisa Ostrovsky received transplanted lung lobes from two donors this week. The successful 6-hour surgery took place at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, where Lisa had arrived by air ambulance a few days earlier.

Lisa, who lives in Israel and suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, had spent the last two months at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina awaiting an organ donor. While no cadaver lung was available, Duke received many offers from living donors to help Lisa - but all these were rejected, since they do not fit the Duke criterion of being a "relative or long-term family friend."

In the case of a cadaver lung, one donor is needed. But with living donors, only a small piece of lung lobe can be removed - so two donors are required. Unfortunately, the only relative who matched the medical requirements was Lisa's mother, Valentina Kurdumov.

In recent weeks, Lisa's condition had deteriorated to where it became clear she was going to die at Duke. So the family arranged to have the surgery performed in St. Louis, where the donor requirements are less strict in that they accept even strangers as lung donors.

Lisa was in such deteriorated condition that doctors only gave her a 50-50 chance of surviving the plane trip.

*   *   *

There are a few heroes in this story.


  Ronald Johnson             

One is Ron Johnson, a 48-year-old janitor from England, who flew to St. Louis to be the second lung donor. Johnson, who is not Jewish, heard about Lisa a few months ago when he happened to pick up a Jewish newspaper at his neighborhood supermarket. The paper featured an appeal for money to help with Lisa's medical costs. After reading the article, Johnson says "I knew I couldn't help financially, but then I realized I could donate my lung."

Johnson was motivated in large part by a visit last year to Poland where he saw the Auschwitz concentration camp. At the time, he resolved to himself: "Few people did anything to help Jews who were being decimated by the millions. So if I ever have the opportunity to save a Jewish life, I'm going to do so."

Johnson, married and the father of two teenagers, said: "I've had a wonderful life with a great family and this is a chance to give something back. I'm not depressed and I'm not a martyr. I'm not looking for praise and I'm certainly not looking for money. It's just not often that anybody - let alone an ordinary chap like me - gets an opportunity to do something positive that will actually save somebody's life."

*   *   *

A second hero in this story is an unidentified wealthy individual who read about Lisa's condition and decided to underwrite a major portion of her medical care - anonymously. Total medical costs are expected to reach nearly a million dollars.

An Israeli insurance company and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Israel are providing further financial subsidy. But still, much more is needed. Those wishing to make a contribution should send checks to:

Israel Endowments Fund, 317 Madison Ave - Suite 607, New York N.Y. 10017 (note on the check that the donation is for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Israel - Lisa Ostrovsky)

or write to:

The office of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Israel is located at: 79 Krinitzi St, Ramat Gan, Israel Tel; 972-3-6702323, Fax: 972-3-6702324, e-mail; c.f.@classnet.co.il

*   *   *

 A third hero is Rabbi Kalman Packouz, the head of Aish     HaTorah's Jerusalem Fund in Miami. Packouz, who never met the Ostrovsky family, spearheaded an email campaign to publicize Lisa's plight. It was through Packouz' "Shabbat Shalom Weekly" that the anonymous money donor first read about the case.

This week, Packouz flew to St. Louis to be with the Ostrovsky family before, during and after the surgery - serving as spiritual advisor, therapist, and media spokesman all in one.                                                                    Rabbi Packouz

Packouz says that the success of Lisa's the surgery was - like anything else in life - a result of three key factors: "First, you have to try. Second, you have to be persistent and keep trying. Third, the Almighty blesses your actions."

Packouz compared Lisa's story to the lesson of Chanukah, which commemorates the miracle in which one day's supply of oil kept the eternal light glowing for eight days. In Lisa's case, Packouz says, "we are witnessing the miracle of how one small lobe of a lung will, God willing, spark many years of good health for Lisa."

*   *   *

Lisa is expected to be hospitalized for a full month, and then remain an additional two months in St. Louis for observation.

The Ostrovsky's then plan to return home to the Israeli town of Hatzor Haglilit. They immigrated to Israel in 1990, when Lisa was one year old. Her father, Dr. Ilia Ostrovsky, is an ecologist who deals with water-quality issues in the Sea of Galilee.

Says Ilia: "I want to thank all the people who are praying for Lisa. We really feel the warmth from these letters, and it is very encouraging to be supported by many positive thoughts, wishes, and prayers."

Frequent updates on Lisa's condition will be posted on this web page.

In the meantime, please pray for Lisa's full and speedy recovery. Her Hebrew name is Lisa Chaya bat Sarah.

Thank you to everyone who helped, and may we continue to hear good news.