Hatzollah Saved My Life!

In the previous post, I told the story of my near-death experience as I went into anaphylactic shock following a bee sting.

Without the help of Hatzollah, I don't think that I would be here today to tell the tale.

Hatzollah are a medical emergency response group manned entirely by practicing orthodox Jewish doctors and paramedics. They operate on an entirely voluntary basis, and cover costs purely by means of donations. They are based in the north-eastern suburbs of Johannesburg which is where they are most active.

They are in the business of saving lives. Saving a life is the greatest 'mitzvah' of all. To save a life is to save the world. Saving a life takes precedence over all the laws of the Sabbath or any other Jewish holiday.

It was my son that called Hatzollah. They were at the house within three minutes. I was taken into the ambulance and put straight onto oxygen and taken straight into the hospital emergency wing where the staff and doctors had already been primed.

The dedication and efficiency of this group must be highly commended. Late on a Saturday night, the emergency services are very busy. There would have been little chance of getting that kind of response anywhere else.

I didn't get a chance to thank them then. I am belatedly thanking them now.

Life & Death - A Close Call, but Still Alive!

One beautiful summer evening last year had me cooking a salmon over the coals on my patio. It had been raining, and the patio was rather wet. The salads and potatoes were ready and the salmon was just about there. As I took a step back I felt a pain on the sole of my foot. A bee had got itself wet and was unable to fly away.

My son helped me to remove the sting. We tried to scrape it off but it would not budge. Eventually a pair of tweezers did the job.

Within 30 seconds my vision started to blur. My speech began to slur. I blacked out for a while and was sick. The ambulance got me to the hospital's trauma unit. Adrenalin was administered. I was wired up to all sorts of machines. My blood pressure dropped to almost nothing. I began shivering. I was in anaphylactic shock. A wonderful doctor looked after me all night as I gradually regained my strength. A year later, she has joined my GP's practice. We were both excited to see each other again! The experience had caused us to bond.

I got to have a second chance in life. Sometime during that night I lost my fear of death. I still want to live I want to live more than ever. But I no longer find prospect of dying something frightening. I have generally become more positive and am able to appreciate life more than ever.

What is more, I'm still not afraid of bees. I carry adrenalin at all times and wear a Medic Alert bracelet. I treat bees with respect. I don't go out barefoot. But I don't take any lengths to avoid them. If they want to buzz around my flowers and trees that is fine. They mean no harm.