JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nechama Rivlin, the wife of President Reuven Rivlin who is never seen in public wihout being attached to a portable oxygen tank, underwent a successful lung transplant.
On Tuesday, a day after the surgery, Nechama Rivlin was awake and speaking to her medical team and family, the President’s Office said in a statement.
Doctors at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva in Central Israel stressed that the first days after a transplant operation are critical and that there is a long recovery period after such surgery.
Rivlin, 73, has pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scar tissue to fill the lungs.
She reportedly has been on the transplant list for over a year, and her situation was getting more critical.
She received her lung from Yair Yehezkel Halabli, 19, of Ramat Gan, who drowned on Friday in Eilat.
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