Seventeen years ago during the Second Lebanon War (2006), Capt. Noam Gershony’s life was saved by a Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedic who pulled him from the wreckage after his helicopter crashed and gave him critical medical treatment. Unconscious for days, Gershony – a pilot who was disabled in the crash and became a Paralympics champion – unfortunately never met the man who rescued him.
But now, Gershony has finally been reunited with the MDA paramedic who pulled him out. In an emotional reunion before 850 American visitors on a Chabad Jewish Learning Institute mission, Gershony met senior paramedic Shimon Eliyah Abitbul. The two embraced on what had been a reunion nearly two decades in the making.
“It was chaos in the Kiryat Shmona area during the war,” Abitbul recalled, “with constant rocket attacks from Hezbollah. All our ambulances were on call at the time, but when I saw Noam’s helicopter collide with another helicopter and crash, I took off in my car to the crash site to see if there were survivors and initiate treatment. As soon as we discovered there were signs of life — a pulse, breathing — we cut Noam’s seat belt, pulled him from the wreckage and secured him to a stretcher,” Abitbul said.
Gershony regained the ability to walk with assistance and resumed participating in sports, using specially designed skis and other devices to resume his prior active life. In 2012, he won the gold medal at the London Paralympics in wheelchair tennis, a moment watched by millions as the Israeli flag was raised to Israel’s national anthem.
Read the full story on The Jerusalem Post>>
