Dear Family,
When we sat together 12 years ago and dreamed of what BFL could accomplish we had a vision that our work to help heal injured soldiers would be a force multiplier, where the healing of our BFL members would be a conduit to helping many others in need in Israel. This week we sat in awe and watched this dream come true.
It started less than a year ago when our BFL Medical Project approached Walter Reed Military Hospital about partnering to help our injured US and IDF soldiers. We learned that top surgeons there were implementing an innovative surgery that allowed veterans who are amputees to wear prosthetics day-to-day without pain, including phantom pain. The procedure connects sensitive nerve endings at the amputation site to healthy nerves in adjoining muscle tissue. This surgery had never been done in Israel.
Many months of work came together last week when BFL brought two US surgeons from Walter Reed to Israel to operate on two of our BFL brothers who lost their legs. Realizing this surgery could help hundreds of Israeli amputees, we invited some of the foremost surgeons from Tel HaShomer hospital to observe and learn how to perform this procedure.
Last Tuesday the dream came true on all levels. Gabi Shoval and Shmulik Lankri got a new lease on life, and Israeli surgeons learned how to bring a new life to other amputees.
We literally wept with joy when we saw what had been accomplished–one miraculous step for BFL brothers, one historic step for those suffering from similar injuries in Israel.
The photos below tell it all, from the terrorist missile that led to amputation, through the successful surgery that took away the soldiers’ chronic pain.
A special unending thank you to Dr. Joel Spitz for his vision in starting the BFL Medical Project, and to Director Tamir Movshowitz who walked through walls to make this dream come true.
One thing I can promise all of you from every one of our BFL members-this is only the BEGINNING!
With hearts full of joy, Shabbat Shalom
Yaniv, Rabbi Chaim, and Gili