Erez Yatzkan’s Journey From Survival in Kfar Aza to Recovery at Sheba

It was half past six in the morning, on October 7th when sirens began roaring across Kfar Aza. For Erez Yatzkan, these sirens symbolized more than just a barrage of incoming rockets, but also symbolized a moment when his life would take a turn from comfort and security to overcoming adversity, fighting for his life and rediscovering his abilities.

Following the alarm, Erez heard Arabic voices from outside his home and knew things were much more serious than a mere rocket attack. He immediately threw himself in front of his wife and daughter and held the front door shut, doing everything in his power to keep Hamas terrorists from entering his home. Determined to get in, the terrorists fired rounds into the door and even tried blowing it off the frame with explosives. However, despite taking damage, Erez never gave up holding that door closed, knowing that if they came in, it would be over for him and his loved ones.

The Escape from Kfar Aza

With severe injuries to his legs and hands, Erez believed that his struggle for survival would be swift and that at any moment the army would come to the rescue, but hours of struggling would pass before they arrived. When they finally did, he was in the middle of a firefight between terrorists and the armed forces.

Upon discovering him, army officials moved Erez to a house with a paramedic, but it wasn’t good enough. They saw that he had to be evacuated out of the Kibbutz and given serious medical care. While speeding out of Kfar Aza in the back of an army vehicle, they were ambushed by terrorists trying to thwart their escape. Two soldiers suffered fatal injuries, but the driver and Erez were unscathed.

In and out of consciousness, the moments were flying by in an incoherent blur. He had no idea exactly where he was or what was going on. Then he felt his body hit a stretcher and heard the voices of nurses and doctors all around him. He had made it.

Erez’s Journey Toward Recovery

Waking up at Sheba Medical Center and coming to terms with what he had just lived through, Erez knew that two paths lay before him. One path was riddled with self-pity and devastation and the other was his journey toward recovery and he knew in his heart that he had to choose recovery. If not for himself, then for his wife and daughter.

Though it wasn’t easy to pick up the pieces of his life, the journey toward recovery was reinforced by the Sheba community. Daily, Erez found himself surrounded by wonderful doctors and nurses who continuously provided him with love and support. It was this environment that planted within him a seed of hope that would carry him to his full potential.

Surgery and Rehabilitation

The injuries Erez suffered were extensive and his goals of once again playing his saxophone and riding his Harley Davidson were going to take time to achieve, but doctors promised him he’d be able to do it, though he would need determination. Over the course of the last 10 months, Erez had undergone nine surgeries and with each one, he was able to move his fingers a little more naturally. There were also painful months spent in Sheba’s rehabilitation center, relearning how to use his body, working with clay, and taking part in hydrotherapy.

All of his combined therapy sessions paid off in the form of a five-kilometer run, but it wasn’t an ordinary run. Erez, along with the doctors and nurses that had stood by him since his arrival at Sheba took a ride out to Kfar Aza, the very place where his struggles began, and together they ran five-kilometers. For Erez, this was a major victory for his body which has come so far, and also for his spirit.

Anyone could survive such an ordeal and retreat forever from the outside world, in fact, it might be the easiest thing to do, but Erez chose the path of determination and took back the life that was almost stolen from him.