Lifesaving Summer Snag
| November 4, 2025True Tales from the Corners of Our World
The Background
A bochur came to my house for Shabbos. At some point the conversation turned to stories, and he told me his mother had experienced a major miracle. Later on, his mother got in touch with me and shared her story in detail.
B
ack in the summer of 2023, my youngest child, Chaya Dalya, who had baruch Hashem survived a bout with cancer, had just been through two surgeries. I myself had diabetes and hadn’t been feeling all that great. But as mothers will, I pushed my worries to the side and focused completely on what my daughter was going through.
I had been hoping that the two surgeries that Chaya Dalya had been through would be enough, and we were both very disappointed when we learned she would need to have another one. What made this especially devastating was the timing; the surgery meant she would miss camp. Chaya Dalya attended a camp for kids who were dealing with major medical issues, and it was an experience she looked forward to all year. My heart went out to her. She was so brave, so mature, so incredible — and now she was being denied the thing she had been so looking forward to.
But this was Hashem’s decision and we had to accept it.
T
he surgery took place on Monday, and by Thursday, she was home recovering. Four days later, on Monday, she found me lying unresponsive. Understanding that it was an emergency, she called 911.
My own memories of the experience only begin hours later, when I woke up to find myself in the ICU, surrounded by my children, Chaya Dalya and my two older children, Reuven and Eliana, who had both been working at camps on the east coast and drove in as soon as they could.
Tears ran down my face, and I was terrified. I had no idea what had happened or why I was in the hospital. All I knew was I couldn’t move or talk, and was in excruciating pain from what I later found out was a dislocated jaw.
It wasn’t long before I found out that I was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a life-threatening problem that affects people with diabetes.
But here’s the fascinating thing.
Only Hashem could have configured things the way they played out.
If Chaya Dalya had not been forced to have that surgery, she would have been away at camp — exactly as planned. The house would have been empty, and nobody would have been around to find me lying there unresponsive.
Sure, my kids would have called home, but they wouldn’t have panicked if nobody answered, surely not right away. I came very close to losing my life — and I thank Hashem all the time for saving me and giving me the opportunity to carry on living and serving Him.
I thank Hashem for allowing me to open my eyes and for helping me appreciate the beautiful blessings that I have. I thank Hashem for giving me the ability to fight to regain my strength so that I could go back to being me and doing all the things I need to do. I thank Him for keeping me alive and for giving me the chance to carry on being a mother.
In the aftermath of what we went through, Chaya Dalya and I have created a nonprofit called Sweet Dreams for Kids and have given out more than 36,000 pairs of new pajamas to kids in hospitals all over the world. This is just a small way for the two of us to thank Hashem for His kindness to us.
Today I’m living a life that is very different than what I expected, but I’m beyond thankful for every single minute, hour, day, week, month and year that Hashem gives me.
(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1085)
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