Mother of Nechama Rivlin’s lung donor: ‘Another part of you has gone’

The mother of the young man whose lung was transplanted into Nechama Rivlin says she grieves the latter’s passing.

Sari Halabli, the mother of 19-year-old Yair Halabli, who died in March after drowning in a diving accident in Eilat, says Rivlin’s passing on Tuesday at the age of 73 meant another part of her son had died.

Rivlin was “a modest woman, just like Yair,” Halabli tells the Ynet news site.

“Rest in peace, together with my enchanting son,” she says to Rivlin, then to her son: “Another part of you has gone, and of my heart.”

Halabli’s family donated several of his organs after his death. Rivlin received his lung on March 11 after a long time on a waiting list as she suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. She died earlier today from complications linked to the transplant.