According to Gilad Sharon, a son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his father responds to verbal requests to move his fingers. Speaking with the New York Times in a telephone interview, Gilad added that of late, his father has also gained weight according to some. “I am certain that he hears me” he told the newspaper. It has been over six years since the former prime minister suffered a massive stroke.

Gilad added that he prefers that his father remains in their Sycamore Farm and not in a hospital or long-term care facility, explaining the problem is Israeli bureaucracy, adding that he and his wife Inbal, and his brother Omri, visit their father daily, not missing a single day.

Gilad also spoke of the soon-to-be-released biography, “Sharon, The Life of a Leader”, in Hebrew and English, stating “He lies in bed, looking like the lord of the manor, sleeping tranquilly. Large, strong, self assured. His cheeks are a healthy shade of red. When he’s awake, he looks out with a penetrating stare. He hasn’t lost a single pound; on the contrary, he’s gained some.”

Omri remains optimistic, and hopes for continued improvement in his father’s condition.

“I told them about a dream I had had many years ago,” Omri recounts in the book, speaking of his discussions with the medical staff of Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. “In that dream I was with my father in the hospital. He was lying in bed, surrounded by medical staff, and they had all either given up or lost hope and were about to leave, and my father didn’t say a thing, but he stared at me with this look, with those green-gray eyes of his, and I knew I would never give up, and that I simply would not leave him. This was a dream I had when my father was healthy and strong and the scenario was completely divorced from reality. I did not tell a soul about the dream at the time, but now I shared it with them and my fear that it was happening now and that I would never be able to forgive myself if we did not fight to the end.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)