The lungs of Lidor Levi, who was murdered in a stabbing attack at a shopping center in the southern town of Gan Yavne last week, were transplanted in a 23-year-old IDF soldier critically wounded in Gaza in January, the National Transplant Center said Sunday morning. Levi's heart was transplanted into a 63-year-old man.
"It's impossible to fully describe Lidor in just a few sentences. Lidor was a unique individual, the kind you don't meet every day," his family told Ynet Sunday morning, adding that he was a registered organ donor.
"He had an extraordinary love for life. His entire being was illuminated by the values of giving and love for others and the environment. For Lidor, family was the highest value, and fatherhood was his life's role. Lidor was the perfect partner, son and brother.
"Anyone who met Lidor could immediately see the goodness radiating from his face, and he was admired by many. It doesn't surprise us to learn that Lidor was a registered organ donor, and through this, he saved lives even after his passing. The message Lidor left us in his will is to strive to be better people." Levi is survived by his six-month-old daughter and his pregnant widow, Shoshi.
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Security forces at scene of last week's stabbing attack in Gan Yavne
(Photo: Tomer Shunem Halevi)
The soldier who received his lungs was critically injured by an anti-tank missile that hit his tank in Gaza on January 19 and has been in a coma and on a ventilator due to irreversible lung damage since. He underwent a complex 10-hour lung transplant Friday at Sheba Medical Center in an effort to save his life. The hospital said on Saturday that doctors will try to wake him and wean him off the ventilator In the coming days.
"So far, the new lungs are functioning well and seem optimally accepted," said Dr. Liran Levy, head of the Lung Transplant Service at Sheba Medical Center.