Widow Describes Birth After Sudden Loss, and Husband’s Organ Donation Saved Six Lives

Shagit Cohen told Channel 7 about giving birth to her son, Ariel, only months after her husband, Avishai, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 42. She was 10 weeks pregnant when he collapsed at home, was rushed to the hospital, spent five days in intensive care, and was then declared brain dead. During those first days, she also went to the emergency room because stress and anxiety caused thyroid problems and a racing pulse, and she needed to make sure the early pregnancy was still healthy.

Cohen said the pregnancy and birth brought both joy and deep grief, because she was expecting a child they had long hoped for while knowing he would never meet his father. Still, she said she felt that Avishai had chosen “the most outstanding and sweetest” baby for them, and that Ariel is a source of happiness and a gift to the family.

Her delivery also turned into a medical emergency. While coming in for a routine check, she suddenly developed severe bleeding and was taken into an urgent caesarean section within 15 minutes. Cohen said she felt her late husband’s spiritual presence during the operation and described the speed of the birth as a mercy from God because it spared her a long labor that would have reminded her painfully of previous births with Avishai beside her.

Cohen also said the family agreed, after a hospital transplant coordinator approached them, to donate Avishai’s organs even though he had not signed an Adi donor card. The procedure was carried out under close rabbinic supervision, and six people were saved by the donation of both kidneys, both lungs, his heart, and liver. Cohen said Avishai was a man of giving, and that his body continues to live on through others. She and the children now receive support from family and friends in Yad Binyamin, including a community project called “Grandma Project” that provides babysitting help, and she says her husband’s legacy in education continues to guide them.