Mrs. Rivlin’s Condition Improved

Nechama Rivlin, wife of President Reuven Rivlin, showed “marked improvement” on Wednesday after she was rushed to the hospital the day before with severe difficulty breathing due to a cardiac condition.

President Rivlin cut short a visit to Canada to be at her bedside at Beilinson Hospital, arriving early Wednesday morning.

“I have just visited my wife Nechama, and I am very encouraged. Nechama had a cardiac condition that has been treated, and I very much hope that when she wakes up she will be able to return to the recuperation she began immediately after the transplant.”

She underwent a lung transplant two weeks ago. Doctors said she is on a respirator but in stable condition

“The long hours of the flight back from my visit from Canada to Israel were deeply worrying, but I know that my Nechama, our Nechama, is a very strong woman. She is the world’s best mother and grandmother and has also been a public servant over the past five years in many fields of Israeli society. She has received the most wonderful appreciation and support possible for that work.

“We have no words for the medical care that Nechama has received over the last weeks. The wonderful team at Beilinson is an outstanding example of first-class public healthcare, and we are deeply grateful to them. There is still a long road to recovery, we know, but Nechama will be back on it and we feel everyone’s support with us at every moment. Thank you so very much.”

Prof Danny Aravot of the intensive care unit said: “This morning, the echocardiogram results show a marked improvement in heart function and physiological readings. We must, of course, continue to monitor over the next hours and days, and we hope she returns to the state she was in over the last week or two.”