One child's tragic death saved four other children's lives through organ donation

A four-year-old boy died at Beersheba’s Soroka University Medical Center after drowning, and his parents agreed to transplant four of his organs to save other children. At the same time, a three-year-old girl who drowned in a private pool at a residential home in Dimona was saved by a married couple who are United Hatzalah emergency medical technicians. 

Despite the Soroka doctors’ efforts to save him, Shoham David Turgeman was finally declared brain dead. After the boy’s grieving parents were asked by the hospital’s transplant coordinator to donate his organs, they agreed. All four transplant surgeries were performed at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. 

A four-year-old boy received the heart; a six-year-old girl got the liver, and the kidneys were given to a four-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. 

Giving a eulogy at the funeral, Shoham’s father said over his grave: “I want you to know, my dear Shoham, that two hours ago I was called to be told that your heart is still beating in a four-year-old boy like you. Thank you for what you gave and left to us in the world.” 

A life saved in Dimona

Meanwhile, early Wednesday afternoon, family members who found the girl in their Dimona pool pulled her out and called emergency services for help. Husband Zion Rosolio and his wife Rachel, both of whom are trained emergency medical technician (EMT) volunteers with United Hatzalah (UH), received a proximity alert on their communication devices notifying them about the emergency. 

“We were sitting at home eating lunch with our children when we got the alert,” Zion explained. “We rushed to our car and drove to the address just a few blocks away. Th mother was standing outside and quickly ushered us into the house. When we found the young girl she was already blue and had no pulse.”e 

Rachel began compressions on the toddler’s chest, while Zion connected a bag valve mask and started giving assisted ventilation. “We were the first responders to arrive. We continued doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR on the girl by ourselves until another volunteer arrived,” Zion added.  

Moishe Francoise, who happened to be in Dimona for work and had just finished his EMT training course three days before the incident, joined the Rosilios at the scene and assisted in the rescue effort. “An ambulance came six or seven minutes later,” Zion said. “They also joined our effort to revive the girl, and it paid off. After a few more minutes, the girl’s coloring started turning back to normal and her pulse came back. Eventually, she began to take some breaths on her own as well.” 

Rachel added: “It was miraculous that her pulse came back. She was taken to Soroka in serious but stable condition. A bit later on in the afternoon, I heard from one of the doctors in the hospital that the girl’s situation had improved and that she had begun breathing on her own/ We are very thankful to have been in the right place at the right time to help.” 

Zion concluded by saying, “We know the family, they are from our community, and I am very glad that we were able to help today, and hopefully prevent a serious tragedy from taking place. This isn’t the first time I’ve done CPR on a child. A few years ago, when a child was left in a hot car, I responded to that incident, but unfortunately, the child didn’t survive. This time, we were able to help and save the child’s life. For that, I am very thankful.”