On November 7th, Yeshivaworld posted an urgent Tehillim request [HERE] for a 37-year-old Yungerman (Yackov ben Toiba) – who suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest. The next day, at the P’sak of Maran Hagon Rav Shmuel Berenbaum Shlita, the name Refoel was added to his name. He remained in a coma for close to two weeks – and Bichasdei Hashem walked out of the hospital yesterday. Much thanks must be given to the tens of thousands of readers who were Mispallel on behalf of this Yid in need.
Read the following article from today’s Journal News, and see what Tefillah can do:
One might say Jacob Klang was in the company of “good people” for the past month. The teacher collapsed in front of nearly 200 students in a study hall at the Ohr Hameir Theological Seminary in Cortlandt (Peekskill Yeshiva) on Nov. 7. Instantly, students jumped to his aid, one calling 911, another running to get the school’s oxygen tank and others taking turns performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation for nearly 10 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
He went into cardiac arrest and no one knows why. The 37-year-old father of six from Spring Valley was otherwise healthy.
He lay in a coma at Westchester Medical Center for nine days. His organs were failing. His mother and wife slept in the waiting room for nearly two weeks. Doctors told them to pray.
Several members of a cardiology team worked to keep his heart artificially pumping using a relatively new device. So new, it was the first time a Westchester hospital had ever used it on a patient. The results were not guaranteed, but doctors thought Klang was “the right patient at the right time,” said Dr. Melvin Weiss, chief of cardiology.
It worked and yesterday Klang was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health.
“There’s a saying in the Talmud: God sends down good things to the world through the agency of good people. These are all good people,” Klang’s father, Elya Klang, 68, said as the family thanked doctors and nurses before they left.
For five days, Klang’s heart rested as a device called the TandemHeart did the pumping for him. Doctors pushed a catheter, or a tube, through an incision near Klang’s groin. The tube, nearly the thickness of a garden hose, went up through his femoral vein into his heart. First into the right atrium and then through the thin wall into the left atrium.
Oxygen-rich blood is sucked from the left atrium back into the machine, where the blood passes through a centrifuge and is pushed out through another smaller tube into the femoral artery. This supplies oxygen-rich blood to the lower part of the body and the abdominal organs.
It does the job of the left ventricle, the main muscle of the heart, pumping blood into all parts of the body.
Without the assistance in transporting oxygen-rich blood to the failing organs, Klang would not have recovered so successfully, doctors said.
In one month’s time, Jacob Klang went from near death to a full recovery. His brain is functioning well, although he has no memory of the events that led him to waking from a coma in a hospital bed.
Doctors say he doesn’t need cognitive or physical therapy, which is extremely rare for a patient who has undergone such an ordeal, said Dr. Raja Varma, a cardiologist fellow who treated Klang the entire time.
In a few weeks, test results should come back that might give doctors a better idea of why this happened to Klang. Unlike most heart patients, his arteries weren’t blocked. His heart is weak, not pumping correctly, but there’s no indication exactly why.
“That’s the mystery,” Weiss said.
Doctors are concerned he might have a heart disease that may have implications for other family members, such as Klang’s identical twin brother.
After resting at home for the next month or two, Klang said, he will likely return to teaching at the Cortlandt yeshiva.
“I think I’ve changed as a person,” Klang said in a whisper, his voice not having recovered from the breathing tube in his throat. “I look at life differently. I won’t take anything for granted.”
Family members, happy to have him home tonight for the first night of Hanukkah, aren’t taking anything for granted either. They thanked everyone at the hospital and the school.
“Our biggest gratitude is to God for creating this miracle,” said his brother-in-law, Shaul Seitler, 35, of Monsey.
As for the first responders, the brave students who kept calm during the initial crisis, Klang’s wife, Esther, 32, was at a loss for words.
“What do you say to someone who saves your husband’s life?” she said. “There’s not enough you can say to someone who has saved your whole world. ‘Thank you’ just isn’t enough.”
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19 Responses
Chasday HaShem Ki Lo Samnu!
We all need to learn CPR. HaShem put the right people in the right place but ignorance is of CPR is NOT an excuse!
Boruch Hashem for the wonderful outcome.
A few things about this story stand out.
1) The Ambulance did not arrive for 10 minutes! Those of us fortunate to live in neighborhoods with many Hatzolah members should be extra appreciative for their amazingly quick response time.
2) There were students that knew CPR! Unfortunately this life saving skill is not taught as part of the standard curriculum in most schools. A CPR training course need take no more than 4 hours and as we see, it can save lives.
3) The Yeshiva apparently did not have an AED (automated external defibrillator). This easy to use device can make all the difference in saving a persons life. (For each minute without the use of an AED the chance for a positive outcome is reduced by 10% r”l. Most CPR courses include instruction on the proper use of an AED).
This summer many people on this site mobilized to help save children’s neshomas. Perhaps we can organize a movement to help sponsor or impress on our local Mosdos the importance of teaching CPR in all our schools. At the very least all teachers and staff members should be trained.
May we continue to hear only good news.
GOM
Nes Chanuka. Please continue with these tidbits.
Yes, we need to focus more on the good that Hashem does to us, and not so much on the things that we perceive as bad. Everything Hashem does is for the best. Hodu L’Hashem Ki Tov!
I am all for hishtadlus. Obviously, the Torah and chazal teach us this. But isn’t this amazing neis niglah — completely sh’lo b’derech ha’teva — in the days preceding Chanukah — the yom tov of l’maalah min ha’teva — sufficuent to show us that it IS NOT the EMS crews, not the CPR, in short NOT tevah, that ultimately determines the “fate” of the eternal Yid. Kudshah Brich Hu, v’Yisroel, v’Oraisa cchad hu. All unlimited by nature. It began with Avrohom Avinu and continues to this day . . . bayamim ha’haim, bazman hazeh. Calling for CPR classes or for the establishment of Hatzolah chapters is not the reaction we should have to this open expression of our Hashgachah Elyonah.
Yoidie L’Hashem Chasdo!!! May all of Klal Yisroel be zoche to the proper Yeshuous with the upcoming Yom Tov of Ner Chanuka & may all of Cholei Yisroel be zoche to a Refuah Shleima B’Korov….Amen!
P.S. Let’s not forget the NISSIM in which occur to us on a DAILY basis & which we don’t acknowledge …!?
CHASDEI HASHEM…..Sing Along! … Ki Lo etc.!!!!!!
THANK YOU HASHEM
The Yeshiva now has an AED, oxygen kit, and even more people trained!
Hodu L’Hashem!!! i agree that everyone should learn cpr. i myself took a course on it and i encourage others to do so. happy chanuka!!
WELCOME HOME YANKY!!!
Great news…I’m so happy to hear my Tehillim & the Tehillim of so many was heard by The One Who Heals. May Hashem bentch all other Cholim with a Refuah Shleima.
Re getting training…does anyone know of free or low-cost CPR training for women?? Mothers & women teachers should also know what to do.
it should be noted that the Rosh Hayeshiva’s name also had Refoel added to it.
shosh nisim lavosynu..baymin hahaim, bazman HAZEH!!!
AMAZING STORY!! may The Aibishter be merachaim on ALL choliei amcha yisroel, and they should all WALK out of their tzros, and machlos!!
BTW: pics are posted on:
http://jukebox.lohud.com/photos/popup/index.php?gallery=Tandem%20heart%20procedure&offset=0
Rabbi Klang and his family are very lucky people… May he continue to have a refuah shaleima…
My Husband and My Family are also VERY LUCKY! Bechasdei Hashem!
This also happened 2 weeks ago;
My Husband, may he continue to be well till 120, also a 37 year old, felt chest pain (a burning feeling in the chest) and shortness of breath when he walked even a short distance. He went to his regular Dr. his PCP who gave him some medication for his high blood pressure and took an EKG that showed normal. He was told to come back in 3 weeks.
Because he felt so bad after walking a small distance, and with advise from his brother (who had experience with clogged arteries) he contacted Rabbi Lauber from Bikur Cholim of Rockland County who got him an appointment that same day to a Cardiovascular specialist in Suffern, and insisted that the doctor perform a “STRESS TEST”. The test immediately showed a possible problem.
Two days later, in Good Sam Hospital, he had an Angioplasty and a Coronary Stent Implant to his LAD. A Main left artery was 95% blocked! According to the Dr.: “This was a time bomb for a Massive Heart Attack”.
He was in the hospital for 1 day only, and is a NEW person now B”H!
Bechasdei Hashem, his blockage was unclogged just in the nick-of-time!!
I am writing this story on this forum, so that if Chas vesholom, if in need, DON’T wait till its too late! (As I understand, this was not the case by Rabbi Klang – it was reported that he was healthy up till then…)
Check your Cholesterol Level and Blood Pressure, especially if there is a Family history!
Don’t panic, just take care of yourself. Venishmatrem meod!!
Bayamim hahaim bazman hazeh– A freilechen Chanukah to everyone!!
BARUCH HASHEM, ready to hear more stories like this one..
I’m assuming we stop saying tehilim for R’ Klang?!?! He’s out of danger zone?!?
The One Above should bentch all the yidden. Deeply moving article. The quote at the end from Mrs. Klang is a kiddush Shem Shamayim in a way. Not only her deep gratitude but the way she refers to her husband as her whole world. The Journal News is read by many non-frum yidden who live in a world were life-long, harmonious marriage is hardly the norm.
He should get a defibutalor and pacemaker so that it does not happen again. If there is something weak about his heart it needs to be watched.
The new technology of a pacemaker monitors every single heartbeat and records it on a computer chip. The doctor can even access this information from this computer through the internet! (My mother is a lucky recipient of such technology that is why I know).
Then if the heart ever “misbehaves” the person is administered a SHOCK that makes the heart pump correctly again.
As I said, my mother’s heart was found to be weak on a regular checkup. They don’t know why but guessed. The reason does not matter, because they gave her what she needed to help her.
Who ever knows this fortunate person should tell him this.
KSN:
Don;t you think he knows that?
or the doctors which saved his life?
Comon.