"Thank you so much to the dear people of Israel for the prayers. My husband has returned to me,” Sivan Ben Haim told Ynet on Wednesday afternoon, two days after her husband, Evyatar Ben Haim, 35, collapsed on the dance floor at their wedding at the Yarok Al Hamayim venue at Kibbutz Hulda, just hours after the ceremony.
Speaking outside the intensive care unit at Kaplan Medical Center, Sivan said that after her husband regained consciousness, he told her: “I love you.”
Evyatar collapsed in the center of the dance floor and was evacuated to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot in very serious condition. “I thank God,” Sivan said, describing the determination of her sister Hagit: “She volunteers with Magen David Adom and works at the dispatch center. One of the guests from the men’s section pulled her from the women’s section to treat my husband, and in the process she realized it was him. She saw that he had no pulse, acted with great presence of mind and professionalism, and immediately began resuscitation.”
A few hours earlier, at 4:30 p.m., the couple’s wedding ceremony had taken place. An intensive care team that arrived at the hall continued the resuscitation efforts begun by Hagit and evacuated Evyatar to the hospital while he was still in life-threatening condition. Dr. Natalia Kaufman, head of the cardiac intensive care unit at Kaplan, said that “there has been a significant improvement in the condition of the patient who arrived to us from an event hall. After intensive treatment by the medical team, he regained consciousness and is communicating with his surroundings. At this stage, it can be said that he is no longer in immediate danger, but he still requires continued supervision and close monitoring in the cardiac intensive care unit to ensure his stability.”
Kaufman emphasized that the medical team is continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to the collapse.
In the meantime, Sivan — together with the rest of the family — continues to pray and recite Psalms. “Thank you all for the prayers,” she wrote this morning on Instagram. “Keep tearing open the gates of heaven for the recovery of Chaim Evyatar ben Vivian Bracha, my beloved husband, the light of my life. He gives life to my soul. The best husband the Holy One, blessed be He, matched for me. He is my match from heaven. The most perfect son, brother, and uncle in the worlds. I’m waiting for you to be by my side, to lift me onto your shoulders, and for us to dance and rejoice all our lives.”