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Photo: Israel Yosef
Omri Michaeli being evacuated to hospital after being wounded
Photo: Israel Yosef

Despite Gaza war injury, Omri Michaeli keeps positive outlook on life

Reservist wounded in the fighting in Khan Younis last summer won't let his handicap stop him from living his life. Since he can't run anymore, he surfs instead.

When Operation Protective Edge began, 27-year-old Omri Michaeli was abroad. He did not hesitate even for a moment, and immediately bought a plane ticket back to Israel so he could join his friends in Duvdevan's reserve unit in the fighting.

 

  

During the fighting, his unit encountered terrorists south of Khan Younis and Michaeli was wounded in his leg from a bullet.

 

"I had a gaping hole in the leg, my muscles, tendons and nerve-endings were all ripped apart," he says. "I tied an arterial tourniquet around my leg and I was evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center. I lost a lot of blood."

 

When he arrived at the hospital, he inadvertently turned into one of the war's symbols when he was snapped by a Yedioth Ahronoth photographer with an Israeli flag in his hand.

 

Omri is still smiling (Photo: Yariv Katz)
Omri is still smiling (Photo: Yariv Katz)

 

"I put the flag on me instinctively. I didn't imagine there would be photographers there. I'm connected to the flag, and it was natural to me. As a reservist, to leave your life and return to Israel on a flight to fight comes out of commitment and love of the country, and the flag is our symbol," he says.

 

For his actions during Protective Edge, particularly an incident in which he leapt at another soldiers and saved him from a frag grenade thrown at them, he received the Chief Of Staff's Citation.

 

After an operation and a long rehabilitation process, Michaeli was left with intense pain in his leg and back, and 20 percent disability.

 

But this didn't stop him from returning to active reserve duty in Duvdevan, and the IDF said he participated in an important mission, during which the killers of Israeli hiker Danny Gonen were apprehended.

 

Despite trying to go back to normal, Michaeli had to give up some of the things he loved to do because of his injury, like going on long runs, but he found a new surprising hobby - surfing.

 

A symbol of Protective Edge (Photo: Israel Yosef)
A symbol of Protective Edge (Photo: Israel Yosef)
 

 

"After enduring such trauma, you have two options," he says. "Either make the injury a limitation, or treat it as a part of life and change your perception. I knew I didn't want let myself give up. Before being wounded, I used to run every day and participate in marathons and now I can't, so I found other solutions, among them surfing. I used to surf in the past, but after the injury I got into it more. When I surf, I don't need to straighten my leg, which is hard for me to do, so this is a good alternative for me. I also swim and dive. In general, the sea took over a significant part of my life since the injury."

 

The Defense Ministry's Department of Rehabilitation has been accompanying Michaeli since he was wounded, aiding him in funding his academic studies and his day-to-day life.

 

Michal Amitai, the social worker who has been accompanying Michaeli, said that she noticed his resilience from their first few meetings.

 

"From the beginning, Omri made it clear that he would to everything to go back to normal as soon as possible," she says. "We were amazed every time anew from his extreme mental strength, his optimism, his ambition and his love for Israel."

 

Michaeli plans on continuing serving as a reserve soldier in the IDF for as long as he can. He hopes others who underwent similar experiences also adopt a positive outlook of life despite the trauma they endured.

 

"This is a new reality to deal with, but you have to look at things positively, and this is my way of looking at life. The physical difficulties are greater because of my limitation, but my dream is to continue serving in reserve for as long as I'm still on my feet, and continue enjoying life."

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.22.15, 14:33
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