Eight months have passed since the moment that shook Israeli basketball, eight months have passed since the moment that shook the Sasson family. On the night between April 14 and 15, Hapoel Gilboa / Galil forward Daniel Sasson left his house in the direction of the gas station at the entrance to Gan Ner on an electric bicycle and has not returned since. A vehicle that did not notice him, got into it from behind, seriously injured him and sent him on a long journey of rehabilitation that continues to this very day.
“On April 15, 2021 Independence Day, four in the morning, I see an unanswered call from the night. At that moment your life changes. Daniel rode his bike towards the grocery store, under a candle garden, and a car driving behind him did not notice him and just got in the back,” he said. Told Ariel Sasson, Daniel’s father. “He went through a very aggressive brain trauma, very high to the maximum a human could endure. A lot of other people would be left dead on the side of the road. He opened his eyes within three weeks, he started breathing fast alone from people who got hit like that. You say something sad about him. “And you see that he’s crying, you say something happy and you see that he gives a quarter of a smile. It means he’s here, he hears and he wants to get out of the box.”
“It’s every mother’s nightmare,” she said Sharon Sasson, Daniel’s mother. “From the moment the kids grow up, drive and leave the house, you take care of them, you always take care of them on the road and then the biggest fear becomes your reality. The pain and shock were so immense that I almost fell.”
Daniel was actually injured in the middle of the special season of Gilboa / Galil that ended in the Final Four and during his career he acquired many friends who accompany him to this day. “Hard, the words are gone. I have known him since we were children, wherever he was he left a mark,” he said. Maccabi Tel Aviv player Yiftach Ziv. “Everyone loved him, everyone was his friends. His case connected us as human beings, I do not refer to basketball, not the professional aspect. I remember Joe Thomson who simply told us: ‘Daniel is our brother, our brother fights for life, we We will fight for him. “
Currently, Daniel is undergoing rehabilitation at the Levinstein home and also at the hospital indicating that there is a significant improvement in his condition. “We see a bit of a reaction to the things we ask for and also some spontaneous movements mostly in the hands and blinks in the eyes,” said Miri Gruber, head of physiotherapy at Levinstein, declaring: “Today, at the stage he is, the sky is the limit.
At the same time, there is an obstacle that could interfere with Daniel’s progress. “On December 18, the Levinstein House is supposed to release Daniel,” his father said. “The idea of putting him in a geriatric institution is wrong. On December 19 there is no place right now that can take him in. To get Daniel out of an institution that can treat his medical problems and continue his cognitive progress is to give it up, it’s put it aside, it’s kill it.” . Now the goal is for rehabilitation places that do magic for people in his condition, such as Adi Negev or Reut to lift the glove and help.
Danny Franco, Who coached Daniel Sasson in the past added: “The building he is in does magic for people, in many cases. There are wars that can not be won alone, especially in such wars for life. We must believe there will be a happy ending, we must believe Daniel will have a happy ending to this story.” .
“There are days when reality is so heavy and the future so unknown, that I just want to wake up and have everything go back to normal. If he could talk, he would say to me, ‘Calm down mom, everything will be fine.’ I saw him more in those seven months than “For years, I’ve never seen him every day for so many hours, and yet I miss him so much. I miss his voice,” Daniel’s mother signed.
Levinstein responded: The Levinstein Rehabilitation Medical Center treats all patients, such as Daniel, in a professional, goal-oriented manner, in order to reach the maximum rehabilitative potential. “In it, with definite medical goals to be achieved. The staff of the intensive care unit and rehabilitation of consciousness is in close and warm contact with Daniel and his family and will not let go until the right place is found for him by his HMO.”
Meuhedet reported: “Daniel’s story is tragic and painful and the fund is doing everything in its power to stand by the family and help them. For the past six months Daniel has been treated at Beit Levinstein Rehabilitation Hospital. Provide his medical and Saudi needs alongside preservative physical therapies in his area of residence.The family has been offered a number of hospitals tailored to his medical condition in their area of residence and we are in direct contact with the family to try and find the best medical solution for their son. “In order to make sure he receives the proper treatment and is in the most appropriate ward for his medical needs. Levinstein Hospital will continue to provide Daniel with the treatment until he finds the right place for his health condition.”
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