’Astonishing recovery’: 10 months after self-immolating, IDF vet is again walking
Tormented by PTSD and what he saw as state’s neglect, Itzik Saidyan set himself alight last year, burning 97% of his body; after 30+ surgeries, he’s on the way to recovery
Nathan Jeffay is The Times of Israel's health and science correspondent
Some 10 months after an IDF veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder publicly set himself on fire, he is walking again, surprising doctors with his recovery.
Itzik Saidyan was so badly burnt after setting himself alight outside a Defense Ministry office last April that medics were skeptical whether he would live. But after more than 30 surgeries, he is making progress.
“It’s kind of a miracle he survived; with that level of burns the odds are stacked against you,” Prof. Josef Haik, head of the burns center at Sheba Medical Center, told The Times of Israel. “We’ve been determined to use his second chance to the best we can, and to our great joy he’s making an astonishing recovery.”
Saidyan has remained in Haik’s unit since the night he self-immolated. The medical team at Sheba has overcome major hurdles, such as Saidyan having barely an inch of healthy skin on his body.
“When he came he was with 97 percent burns,” said Haik. “He arrived about half an hour after the event occurred. He had put a lot of flammable liquid on himself and set himself on fire.
“The burns were so deep in some places that they reached the bones. They were so bad that the only place we could ‘harvest’ skin was the soles of his feet.
“He lost huge amounts of muscle due to the long healing process and confinement to bed, but he is now walking. His wounds are almost totally closed, and he’s doing a lot of rehab,” Haik continued. “He has a stand-up bed which gives the benefit of early ambulatory progress and allows a return to stand-up position even if ventilated, helping balance and [to] prevent pressure sores.”
Saidyan has been hospitalized since setting himself ablaze outside the Petah Tikva offices of the Rehabilitation Department for disabled soldiers, after years of struggling to receive the care he requested. In September, he woke from his coma and he has since been receiving psychological support as well as help with his physical recovery.
His self-immolation brought the Defense Ministry’s treatment of wounded veterans under intense scrutiny.
The IDF Veteran’s Association has said that Saidyan was frustrated over his treatment by authorities. He was recognized by the Defense Ministry as having 25% disability from his post-traumatic stress disorder, but had requested 50% recognition. The ministry had refused, saying at least a portion of his condition was due to childhood trauma, not his military service.
Saidyan served in the Golani Infantry Brigade during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. He participated in the Battle of Shuja’iyya, a neighborhood in Gaza City that saw some of the fiercest clashes in the conflict.
Many of his treatments have used innovative technology, some of it developed in Israel.
“We’ve used skin substitutes using keratinocytes, an Israeli invention that gives a layer on the skin and also creates dots from small pieces of skin that heal and spread to make clean tissues,” Haik said.
For Haik, treating the veteran has been deeply moving.
“My son is his age, and I feel a lot of identification with this patient,” he commented. “My son has a friend who was killed in the same event in Gaza that gave Saidyan PTSD.”
He marvels about the recovery that he sees in the ward each day.
“I’ve treated more than 6,000 hospitalized burns patients and I can count on two hands the number in such a serious state that we’ve been able to save,” Haik said.
