Do You Believe in Miracles? I Do

By Rikki Sabbagh

The first week of December 2014 was a hectic one. My 7-month-old son had been sick on and off for weeks, and between taking care of a sick baby and working full time, I wasn’t getting much sleep.

This was precisely the reason why I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that I had been having a headache for 4 days straight. I figured lack of sleep and stress were the reasons why the Advils I was taking weren’t working.

Little did I know, something much more serious was brewing. On Friday morning, 13th of Kislev – December 5th, I threw a quick load of laundry in the machine downstairs in the basement and ran back upstairs to grab my things and head out to work.

With the baby in the stroller, I turned towards the open door and started to make my way out. Before I was even able to take a few steps, I felt a massive pain in my head and got really dizzy. I felt like I was going to faint, so I laid down on the floor so that I wouldn’t fall and hit my head.

I don’t really remember much of what happened after that. I do remember somehow having the strength to scream for help. Some people that were passing by came to my aid. I thank G-d that it happened right at that moment (and not 5 minutes before or after). If it had been 5 minutes earlier, I would have been behind a closed door, and no one would have heard me. If it had happened 5 minutes later, I would have been in the car with the baby driving to work, and who knows what could have happened.

I have vague recollections of paramedics and neighbors going in and out of the house, but I don’t remember much else. Most of the ambulance ride is a blur. I do, however, remember having an out of body experience; feeling like I was hovering over everyone in the ambulance and looking down on everyone.

Someone got in touch with my husband, who was at work, and he pulled up to the hospital at the same time as the ambulance. He says that he asked me what was wrong, and I just kept saying that my head was hurting, but I don’t remember the conversation at all.

The next few days are a complete blank to me. Everything that happened after was told over to me by my husband and family members. They rushed me into the cat scan and saw that there was a bleed in the brain. I had a very serious brain aneurysm; a stage 4, with 5 being the worst. The aneurysm also caused a stroke, which led to paralysis on my left side.

The doctors informed my husband that it was on a very tiny blood vessel, in a very hard to reach place so the most they could do was insert a drain to relieve the pressure and blood, but they couldn’t do much else. They basically informed him that the chances of my survival were pretty slim. It’s customary among Orthodox Jews that when someone is sick, we say psalms and pray for their recovery.

My name (Rivkah bat Chemda) spread like wildfire, and all around the world (from Israel to Iran and even Australia) there were hundreds of people praying for me. One of the doctors at this hospital told my husband that he personally knows the head neurosurgeon at NY Presbyterian in Manhattan and recommended that I be transferred there. He said they are a lot more skilled in this area and may be able to help.

Friday night, I was transferred to NY Presbyterian, and on Shabbos morning my husband met with the 2 surgeons. The first surgeon was going to go in through a main artery in the leg all the way up to the brain, and shoot a special type of glue in that would hopefully close off the aneurysm. If that didn’t work, the other surgeon would have to open up and remove part of the brain to get to it.

G-d only knows what type of side effects would result from this; paralysis, remaining a vegetable, etc. My husband shook the doctor’s hand and said, “May G-d guide your hands in the right direction.”

Less than 2 hours later, I was wheeled away, the doctor came back out to the waiting room where my husband and our family members were waiting.

At first, my husband thought the worst since the doctor had told him it would take about 8 hours for the whole procedure. He took a deep breath and then told them about the big miracle that happened. He had gone in to view the aneurysm, only to find out that a blood clot had formed over it, causing the bleeding to stop.

My husband shook his hand and asked him if he believed in miracles. He smiled and said, “I know you guys pray a lot and have very strong faith. In my 30 plus years of being a doctor, I have never seen anything like this, and there is no other way of explaining what had happened.”

The doctors then said that I would be in the I.C.U. for at least 6 months, then in a step down unit for another 6 months and then in rehab for a year, relearning everything.

They said it would be at least two years before I would be able to go back home.

Suffice it to say, I walked out of the hospital, on my own 2 feet, and went straight home, less than 1 month later.

The day I was discharged the doctors all came in and wanted to talk to me to see what I remembered, because they had never met someone who had survived a stage 4 brain aneurysm before.

All the nurses and hospital staff gave me a standing ovation as I left. I celebrated my 31st birthday (which is on the 3rd day of Chanukah) in the hospital, just a few days before I went home.

I truly believe that it was the power of everyone’s prayers that gave me a second chance at life. I did have about 6 months of outpatient physical therapy, as well as some issues with my peripheral vision, but I’m happy to say that within 6 months I was completely back to myself with no lingering side affects. Now every year when we celebrate Chanukah and my birthday, we also celebrate my second lease on life.