THE DETACHED RETINA AND SAVING A LIFE

R’ Shneur Kupchik, shliach in Delhi, India, relates:

It was before Pesach when a nice couple came to our Chabad House. During a quiet moment we sat down with them and they said that after twenty-five years of making Pesach at home with their family, they decided to do something different and mark the occasion at one of the Chabad Houses in India. They had been planning this five week trip to India for a long time.

After a few days which they spent with us in Delhi, they traveled on to Rishikesh and planned on going north from there. But Hashem had other plans for them.

On Motzaei Shabbos I got a phone call from them. The husband suddenly experienced a change in his vision and he asked me whether there were good hospitals in Delhi. From the tone of his question I did not realize the seriousness of his situation. I advised them to complete their stay in Rishikesh as they had planned and on their way to Dharamsala to pass through Delhi for a checkup. 

In the morning I got another phone call from him. They had cut short their itinerary and were in a taxi on their way to Delhi. He was afraid the issue was a detached retina which needed a professional diagnosis and proper treatment. The situation was more serious that I had thought and I immediately gave him the information for a private hospital. I also reserved a room for them in a hotel near the Chabad House.

A few hours later he called me and complained, “Where did you send me? The doctor looked at my eye with the light from his cell phone! He says it might be a stroke and he says I should get a CT scan. I left this place.”

I realized this was serious and began looking for a better eye clinic which is hard to find in our city. Boruch Hashem, I hadn’t needed such a thing until then. An Israeli living in Delhi for many years referred us to a top eye surgeon. He saw a hole in the retina and referred the man to an even bigger expert. He even volunteered to drive them to the other doctor’s clinic. The third doctor thoroughly examined him and said he needed a very urgent operation, it was a matter of hours or the man could lose his sight.

I was in the middle of a trip when he called me with the frightening news. This was the first trip we allowed ourselves, after years of work, and now this crisis right at the beginning of our trip, in the middle of nowhere, medically speaking. Why did this have to happen? Here, of all places! 

I began checking out the quickest flights to Eretz Yisroel and at the same time, the possibility of an operation in India. It was a real dilemma. It was beyond me to make a decision. It was up to them.

While I was checking out the options (which is part of the work of a shliach in places like this) I got the following text:

“R’ Shneur, I got your contact information and I need major help from you. My mother has cancer and the only treatment that can help her at this stage (after undergoing chemotherapy twice already) is a medication that costs 30,000 shekels in Eretz Yisroel. We cannot afford it but in India the medicine can be bought for $200. It’s a generic brand but it accomplishes what is needed. If you can help us get the medication… We can come to India to buy it and bring it here. Please get back to us.” And he wrote the name of the medication.

My first thought was: this is the reason! The Baal Shem Tov says that a neshama descends to this world for 70-80 years just to do a favor for another Jew. So a trip to India was worthwhile just to be able to quickly bring back medicine for a woman who needed it, to save her life. I figured I would contact the couple who were looking for an urgent eye operation and were considering returning to Eretz Yisroel immediately and sending the medicine with them. Maybe, in this way, I could console them that their trip here wasn’t for nothing.

The race against time began. I found them a flight at 12:30am. I also contacted a pharmacist I know. Yes, he was familiar with the medication, it was very expensive and not on the shelves of ordinary pharmacies but he could get it for me by 10:30. Oy! Too late. The medicine wouldn’t be able to be taken by the couple.

In the meantime, the couple was still unsure about whether to fly to Eretz Yisroel given the husband’s condition. There were good surgeons in India but you had to find them. In Eretz Yisroel it was easier. On the other hand, time was working against him. Every minute was critical and he could lose his vision on the flight. The flight itself could prove harmful.

I was unsure how to advise them. I did not want to take responsibility for a complicated operation here in India and yet, flying did not sound like a good idea either. I consulted with doctors on their behalf and I still did not feel confident telling them what to do.

I decided to ask the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. These are questions for the Rebbe. Only he can decide such weighty matters. The letter was in volume 8 and it said:

I just received your letter in which you write that you made an appointment for a hernia operation for the coming Friday… In addition to the telegram you sent me, I double my blessings that the operation should be in a good and successful time and may you soon recover your strength and work in aiding the Jewish people materially which will certainly ultimately be a spiritual help as well.

In the next line appears the saying that I had planned on telling them:

The saying of the Baal Shem Tov is known that a soul descends to a body for 70-80 years in order to do even one favor for a Jew whether materially or spiritually.

The Rebbe gave his blessing for the operation, great, but the medicine was still a problem. Who said it would arrive on time? I tried to pressure the pharmacist. He told me that at that moment he was racing on his motorcycle to get the medicine and was doing the best he could. 

In the meantime, the couple told me that they decided to get another medical opinion in India. They would pass on the 12:30 flight. The next flight was leaving at 4:30. Fantastic hashgacha pratis. I would be able to give them the expensive medicine before they left.

Just two hours after receiving the text from the Israeli in Eretz Yisroel, I got the medication. A truly impressive record time. I texted the guy back very happily, “I have the medication.” He responded even more happily, “I really don’t know how to thank you. Thanks again. Please let me know when you’re sending it.”

Now the couple had an important assignment. They just had to buy their tickets, fly, and the medicine would be on its way to Eretz Yisroel to the poor woman I did not know who so badly needed it. I prayed, “Hashem, please let the medicine save her life and may she have a speedy refua shleima.”

Before they left my house for the airport, I read to them the letter that I opened from the Rebbe on their behalf. A double bracha for the operation.

The couple landed safely in Eretz Yisroel. They arrived home, exhausted and tense and within a short time he was in the operating room.

During his recovery, their son surprised them with a marriage proposal that they hadn’t expected. They suddenly realized the additional significance of what the Rebbe wrote. At the end it said, “I was pleased to read in your letter that in its time you married off your daughter to a fine young man.”

I updated the Rebbe with the Igros Kodesh, in the same volume. Incredible. “I was informed about his health and then also about the results of the eye operation which, thank G-d, was successful. May Hashem provide that his health continue to improve and may he be able to add in exertion in Torah and avoda, for a healthy and whole body is from the ways of Hashem.”

Since the operation, he has been in a long recovery and, thank G-d, his vision is improving daily.