“It progressed through the years and really [took its toll] on the family. While I was in high school, we were told either we get a donation or he won’t survive. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a donor and he didn’t make it.”
In the years that followed, Talia carried both the grief of that loss and a desire to spare another family the same pain.
Now 39, the Tel Aviv-based computer scientist and lecturer at Bar-Ilan University first approached Israel’s National Transplant Centre while still in her twenties, offering to donate part of her liver to a stranger.
“They told me I was too young,” she said. “They said I should have children first and grow up a bit.”
But despite the setback, she never let go of the idea.
Over the next decade, she built an academic career, married, raised two children, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the United States. Yet her determination to become a living liver donor never faded.
A few months ago, she decided to begin the process again. Several potential donations came close to going ahead but fell through at the last minute. Then, two weeks ago, the long-awaited call finally came: a transplant was needed, and surgery could go ahead.
Two days before the operation, a transplant coordinator told Talia that the recipient would be Bissan, an eight-month-old baby born with a rare liver defect that had progressed to life-threatening liver failure. Neither her parents nor any close relatives were suitable donors, and doctors warned that, without an urgent transplant, she would not survive.
“When they told me she was a young Arab girl, I thought, ‘She’s a baby. That’s all I care about. Of course I’ll do it',” Talia said.
Despite being on her way to Ben Gurion Airport for a business trip when the call came, Talia didn’t hesitate and turned the car around immediately upon learning that Bissan’s condition was serious and rapidly deteriorating.
The successful transplant, which took around 10 hours, was carried out by the liver transplant teams at Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Centre in Petah Tikva.
For Talia, seeing Bissan recover has brought a profound sense of closure. “I feel like I’ve closed the circle,” she said. “I [went from] hopelessness to taking action. It’s incredibly emotional, exciting and validating. I think my father would be proud.”
Amid the violence and division that dominate headlines, she hopes the story serves as a reminder of something else.
“I’m so happy to be able to do some good,” she said. “It’s just a drop in the ocean, but everything counts. All life is sacred. I truly believe that whoever saves one life saves an entire world.”
Since the operation, Talia has visited Bissan and her mother, Omima, three times and hopes the families will remain in touch.
“Omima is incredibly kind and so grateful, which is very touching,” she said. “My children are already asking to meet Bissan. I really hope we can all get together when she’s feeling better.”
Talia (second from right) with Bissan, alongside medical staff in the transplant unit of Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Centre (Credit: courtesy) [Missing Credit]
Omima said the fear of losing her baby daughter before a donor had been found was “overwhelming”.
“I was terrified of watching my daughter suffer before my eyes without being able to help her,” she said. “When I heard that a suitable donor had been found, I felt enormous relief and great joy. It brought hope after a very difficult time.”
Dr Yael Mozer-Glassberg, director of the Paediatric Liver Transplantation Unit at Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Centre, said there was “no doubt” that Talia’s decision saved Bissan’s life.
“[Bissan’s parents] were desperate. It was heartbreaking to see,” she said. “What Talia did was truly heroic. You can't really say anything [else] about it. It was amazing."
Bissan is now well on the way to recovery, according to Yael. “She is out of the ICU. She is stable, and super sweet.”
She added: “I wish the world was [more like] our hospital. We don’t care where patients or donors come from, which language they speak, what kind of insurance they have. We all cooperate and take care of each other.”
