Dinush Rivkin is a sweet 4 and a half year old from Kiryat Malachi who was born with a congenital birth defect called esophageal atresia. According to Wikipedia it causes the esophagus to end in a blind-ended pouch rather than connecting normally to the stomach. The food never makes to the stomach properly and is coughed up and causes choking and suffocation.
Little Dinush could not eat normal food from the day she was born. She had to be fed through an esophageal tube which in Hebrew is called a “zonda” which brings liquid food directly to the stomach for digestion and prevents it from getting into the lungs G-d forbid. Needless to say such “eating” is an ordeal and quite often the food wouldn’t stay down which also brought the fear of weakening due to lack of nourishment.
After 4 and a half years of suffering the Rivkins flew to Boston children’s hospital for a life-saving operation to attach her esophagus to her stomach. Chocolate and pizza were nonexistent in Dinush’s life until now, but not anymore! Dinush was able to eat real food for the very first time and now a week later, she was released from the hospital.
The family is staying in Boston for observation and hopefully soon they will fly home with Dinush happy and healthy.