- Rafi Amer, then seven, was sent home from school in September 2023 after vomiting, which progressed to severe cramps; doctors initially misdiagnosed his condition as constipation and a stomach bug over two weeks.
- After his father discovered blood in his stool, Rafi was rushed to hospital where his condition rapidly worsened, leading to stage four kidney failure, multiple seizures, a brain injury, and three cardiac arrests, with doctors urging his family to say their goodbyes ƒ
- Rafi was diagnosed with Shiga-toxin producing E.coli-haemolytic uraemic syndrome (STEC-HUS), a rare kidney condition, and was placed on life support, including an ECMO machine, remaining in a coma for two weeks.
- After two weeks, Rafi regained consciousness but was in a vegetative state, unable to respond for about six months, before slowly showing signs of awareness like blinking and eye tracking, indicating the beginning of his long recovery.
- Now nine, almost three years after his illness, Rafi can talk, eat, sit up, and has recently learned to stand independently, with his family having moved into a Ronald McDonald House for 186 nights to be near him during his nine-month hospital stay.
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