The Way Out

1 May 2024 The Way Out A Chronicle of Relapse and Redemption It's a harsh realization: you pull through life with chronic illness, trying to surviv

1 May 2024 The Way Out A Chronicle of Relapse and Redemption It's a harsh realization: you pull through life with chronic illness, trying to survive day by day, but you are not living.

My "TED-worthy" story that got me into all major news outlets in Israel a while back was a promising one. A young man on his way to becoming a doctor fell ill, succumbing to illness, only to find himself fighting an uphill battle against healthcare, like an armorless Don Quixote poking against a hospital wall.

He is also a hero, a martyr, and a victim of this evil life. He had an "incident" in his army service while saving the lives of others as a medic, defending his country. No word about mental health, no PTSD in this lexicon, only an injury leading to a mysterious illness taking almost a decade of his young life.

He is so empowered by the end of his journey that he not only diagnoses and rehabilitates himself but also teaches himself to walk and talk when he's almost 28. Using this inertia, he helps empower others sharing their bedridden fate and even extends beyond the chronically ill community to empower others to leave their comfort zones, confront their fears, be more resilient, and thrive. He founds startups and NGOs, speaks on the world stage, writes books, and is always doing.

This is a beautiful and compelling story, but it's not the whole story.

Let's rewrite it using the facts of the matter: he joins the army at 18 since he has to, stupidly tries to fit in, and waives his medical right to have a desk job, only to find himself on the battlefield a few short months later. While doing so, he is so self-canceling that he spends his short and precious vacations from the army as a volunteer medic at the Israeli branch of the Red Cross, only to encounter more death, destruction, and trauma. His body fails him; he gets gaslighted, ignored, and neglected. Only a year after being honorably discharged to a society that sees it as the utmost dishonor, he tries to prove himsel