Sivan’s tribute to relatives killed by rare illness

THE FAMILY of Sivan Hermon, 11, has a history of primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare disease which has claimed the lives of her paternal grandmother and recently, her aunt Ifat Karako, who was 38 and leaves behind a husband and a three-year-old son.

Now the Yavneh College pupil is marking her batmitzvah by raising money for the Israel Pulmonary Hypertension Association.

“Ifat was a campaigner who raised money to help others suffering from the disease and I would like to honour her memory by doing the same.”

Her plan is to swim the equivalent of a marathon in four weeks. “This will equate to 390 lengths of a 25 metre pool,” she explained.

It took a year of tests before her aunt was diagnosed with the condition ten years ago.

At that point, “no one in our family knew that this disease could be passed on. Unfortunately, by the time she got the diagnosis, her heart was already damaged. Sivan Hermon