Israeli businessman Roni Shaten on surviving a coma: "I felt like an alien"

Industrialist and businessman Roni Shaten, known to sports fans as the former holder of management rights for Bnei Yehuda and a partner in Maccabi Tel Aviv, is currently recovering from a medical crisis that nearly cost him his life. About three weeks ago, what he initially mistook for flu symptoms turned out to be an acute biliary tract infection that had spread to his blood.

The quick thinking of his children, who recognized the severity of his condition and called for emergency help, saved his life. At Ichilov Hospital, doctors placed Shaten in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator, where he spent six days in the intensive care unit.

Recounting his first moments after waking up, Shaten told TMI:

"The truth is that at first, I didn't understand at all what had happened to me. Even a day or two after I woke up, I didn't grasp the severity of the situation. I didn't understand that ten days had disappeared from my life, I didn't understand where I was, why my hands were tied, and what had happened to me at all. I felt like an alien. As if I was born again, but without understanding what had happened to me."

Shaten attributes his recovery to his devoted family: "My children were with me 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They didn't leave me for a moment. And, of course, my sisters."

Now, while focusing on his rehabilitation, he is also making a real estate shift, putting his 250-square-meter duplex in the Sea and Sun project up for sale in order to move into a smaller apartment within the same complex.

Alongside his personal recovery, his thoughts remain on the situation in Israel: "It hurts me a lot what is happening in the country. I am worried about its future, and I mainly think about my children and grandchildren. If I had the opportunity to influence and make this country better, I would be willing to leave everything for it."