A bereaved father needs donations like oxygen
Tzachi Namer, 70, constantly leaves his front door open. Even at night. He has an acute lung disease, which forces him to always be connected to an oxygen tank. His worst fear, he explains, is that he would collapse and nobody would be there to help. If I lock the door, he says from painful experience, people won’t be able to get in and rescue him.
His life were far from being easy. 15 years ago, during the Second Lebanon War, he lost his son Assaf Z”L, in the famous Bint Jbeil Battle. Hezbollah terrorists ambushed soldiers of the Golani Brigade and in the exchange of fire eight officers and soldiers, among them Assaf, were killed. His friends said that he was running around trying to help the wounded, until he was killed.
Assaf was not a typical Golani type. He enlisted at the age of 25, older than his 18-year comrades, after emigrating from Australia – where he lived with his mother and sister – specifically to serve in the IDF. When the war started, he was just few weeks before being discharged. His battalion commander, Lt. Col. Yaniv Assor (now a Major General) says that because of that, he was willing not to send him to the battlefield, but Assaf insisted. “What was I training for all this time?” he told his commanding officer.
Assaf Z"L During his military service
Tzachi was hit hard by this tragedy. From the minute he received the terrible news, his physical condition deteriorated. "On the day of the funeral, I woke up with high fever and pain all over my body”, he says. “That was the first ill omen. Since then, it only got worse”.
In the following years, Tzachi contracted Fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. If this was not bad enough, then the doctors found out that he also suffered from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a type of obstructive lung disease characterized by long-term breathing problems and poor airflow. Today he can’t function at all without being connected 24/7 to an oxygen tank. During the last year he was hospitalized 12 times. In some of the cases, neighbors found him lying at home, unconscious, alone, and rushed him to the hospital.
Assaf Z"L During his military service
And apart from his acute health condition, Tzachi’s big problem is that he can’t afford to pay for a caregiver who will assist him round the clock. Indeed, he gets an allowance from the Ministry of Defense, for being a bereaved father, but this only enables him to pay rent, daily expenses and pay back debts to banks. The state pays for a caregiver for only two hours a day, which is far cry from what he urgently needs, just to be able to live.
It should be noted that throughout the past year, all government ministries and relevant authorities have been approached in an attempt to extract Tzachi's rights and obtain further assistance, but the efforts have not borne fruit.
Tzachi urgently needs your help now. He needs it so he can afford a caregiver day and night, who would be able to assist immediately in emergency. For him, it would be the difference between life and death.
Let’s join together in enabling Tzachi to live the rest of his life in dignity. He deserves it.
