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Tali and Ronen Porat present their ketubah
Photo: Ofer Amram

ALS patient marries against all odds

Ronen Porat, a young optimistic designer from Holon suffering from terminal disease, weds his 'angel' Tali on his apartment balcony

Ronen Porat, a young designer from Holon, who has enchanted tens of thousands of Ynet readers over the past five years by humorously describing his life as an ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) patient, amazed his friends on Wednesday when he married his sweetheart Tali.

 

Tali and Ronen were wed in a proxy marriage by Rabbi Pinchas Althouse due to Porat's total disability and his physical inability to place a ring on his wife's finger.


 

Ronen and Tali under the canopy (Photo: Ofer Amram)

 

In his book titled "Basof Yavo Mal'ach" (Eventually, An Angel Will Come), written and published with journalist Ilan Itzhayek and based on his optimistic journal, Ronen described his first meeting with Tali, the love of his life, as a surprising visit by the good angel. It happened just when he thought all that was left for him was to lie in bed with artificial respiration, being fed through tubes, motionless and unable to speak, and forced to wait for the arrival of the angel of death.

 

Friendship turned into an affair

Porat divorced his first wife shortly after being diagnosed with ALS, as he sought to prevent her from being a slave to his disease his entire life. At the beginning of his illness his ex-wife still stood by his side and their love story was the background of some chapters of his journal. In recent years his then-wife became newly religious, married and started a new life in Jerusalem.

 

Ronen met Tali, a divorcee and a mother of two daughters, when she was called to help with the maintenance of his laptop, which he used to communicate with the world. The two developed a friendship which turned into an affair. On Wednesday the two made their love official in a modest traditional ceremony in Porat's Holon apartment, at the presence of friends, family members and many other people.

 

ALS is a progressive and terminal muscular degeneration illness, which takes away all of the patient's motor abilities in a slow and long process, which usually lasts about four years.

 

The most famous ALS patient in the world is renowned physicians Prof. Stephen Hawking. Famous patients in Israel include Israel Prize Laureate and industrialist Dov Lautman, courageous rock climber Felix Shlomovich, and IsrA.L.S CEO Nir Tsoran, all of whom were guests at Tali and Ronen's wedding.


 

Ronen (in the back) and Tali with ALS patients who were guests at the wedding: IsrA.L.S CEO Nir Tsoran, rock climber Felix Shlomovich and his wife, and industrialist Dov Lautman (Photo: Ofer Amram)

 

An inspiration to readers

Ronen Porat's optimism completely contradicts the history of his family, which was forced to deal with loss. His mother Yael escaped the Nazis as a child, his father Avshalom died of ALS, his eldest brother Yoel died in the Yom Kippur War, and Ronen was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 30.

 

He began writing when his disease took away his ability to speak. In the past he used to type with a sensor attached to his forehead, and joined letter to letter to produce sentences and paragraphs on the computer screen. Today, the only voluntary muscle movement he has been left with is the ability to move his eye right and left. This is how people communicate with him.

 

Ronen's "journal" was first published on Ynet five years ago, on Rosh Hashana Eve. In light of the enthusiastic responses it raised among tens of thousands of readers in Israel and abroad, the website continued to closely follow his story.

 

Many readers said Ronen's "journal" inspired them to make a significant change in their lives, and group of dozens of participants in his forum have formed an organized national lineup of volunteers who help and accompany ALS patients to this day.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.28.08, 07:14
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