In addition to the physical pain and suffering endured by many victims of Arab terrorism and their families, in many cases, their lives are complicated emotionally, even devastated on the homefront.

Usually, the media stops reporting about victims after a short time period, or G-d forbid when an attack is ‘erased’ by a new attack with its new devastating realities.

YWN decided to take a look at some recent and not-so-recent terror victims, giving a very limited glimpse into their lives today, significantly changed by a single explosion or gunshot.

On June 20, 2002, the lives of the members of the Shabo family of Yishuv Itamar changed dramatically and forever. Terrorists infiltrated the Shomron community and began firing automatic weapons in all directions. They entered the Shabo home while firing, resulting in the deaths of four family members, Rachel (wife/mom), 40, Neria (16), Avishai (5), and Zvika (13). Rachel and her sons were buried side-by-side in Itamar. They were survived by Boaz (husband/father), Yariv (17), Atara (15), Avia (13), and Asael (8).

Boaz was not home at the time of the attack. Yariv and Atara were out visiting friends. Surviving the attack was then-9-year-old Eshal, who sustained seriously gunshot wounds to his right leg. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save the damaged limb and they were compelled to amputate his leg above the knee. The automatic gunfire almost cut the limb and the vascular and other damage was beyond surgical intervention.

Since that time, Eshal has dreamt of sports and running, unwilling to make do with the standard prosthetic offered to him, often opting to hop on one leg or use his crutches, remaining firm in his rejection of the government –offered prosthetic limb.

Today, 15, Eshal returned from the United States around Independence Day of this year, standing and running with two legs, with the right one being a state-of-the-art bionic limb that carries a price tag of $70,000.

Eshal met with IDF disabled veteran Shlomo Nimrodi, today living in the United States. He was fitted with such a prosthetic, permitting him to run and take part in sporting events. Eshal relied on his new friend who put him and his dad in touch with the American clinic specializing in such advanced prosthetics, and together with two non-profits, the rest is history.

Eshal returned home recently, excited to show everyone that once again, finally, he can run and take part in sports like other children.

A teary-eyed Boaz stated that now he is certain of one thing, that Eshal will succeed in anything in his life that he sets his mind to.

On March 31, 2002, a suicide bomber blew himself up and set off a most powerful bomb in the Matza Restaurant in the N’vei Sha’anan district, near the Grand Canyon Mall in Haifa. The attack occurred on Pesach. 15 people were murdered in the attack and many more were injured, some seriously, others left with permanent disabilities.

One such person was Orli Virni, 21 at the time, who hung between life and death for a number of days following the attack. Doctors at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa were not too optimistic, uncertain if she would recover and if she did, they painted a bleak quality-of-life picture for her future.

Orli was seated in the restaurant with her friend, 22-year-old Danielle Mentchell, who was among the dead.

About six months following the attack, Orli relocated to Germany, explaining she could no longer deal with the realities of remaining in her home land, compelled to build a new life elsewhere.

During her life in her new country, she met Sven and the two have since married and today, they are expecting the birth of their first child, a son. Orli was in Israel recently, in her seventh month, and decided to return to Rambam to visit the hospital and the team that gave her a second lease on life. She also decided to visit the attack site, feeling a need to close the cycle that led to the events that changed her life forever.

Doctors explain that she had less than a 20% chance of pulling through, but G-d has his plans.

“Who would ever believe that I would visit Rambam one day, pregnant” she asked rhetorically, “the very place where I was compelled to fight for my life?”

For Avital Afgin the battle has just begun, seriously injured in the Chutzot Shopping Mall rocket attack on May 14, 2008. Also seriously wounded was her 2-year-old daughter Ta’ir. They were transported with the other wounded, some 100 people, to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital, but their serious injuries were beyond the medical facility’s capabilities, leading to the decision to stabilize the two and airlift them to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, where mother and daughter remain today.

While they have both shown signs of improvement, they have a long road of recovery and rehabilitation ahead. They are in different buildings and as a result, are not side-by-side. For Avital, her main worry is not her own wounds and injuries, but the realization that despite extensive surgery, doctors may have to amputate Ta’ir’s right leg.

Avital [bat Penina] calls on everyone to recite Tehillim for her and especially Ta’ir, that Ta’ir should merit a speedy and total recovery, with two legs, able to walk and develop like all other children.

In the meantime, Adi, Avital’s husband, continues to go from bed to bed as his life has taken on a new set of priorities and responsibilities, now engulfed with major medical decisions and prayers as his family continues to fight to recover from yet another Islamic terror attack.

133 people were killed in Arab terror attacks in the month of March, 2002.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)