Wheels of Love 2020

The 2020 Ride will be centered around the Negev Desert and the magnificent man-made oasis of Sde Boker. After 4 days in the desert, the final day of riding will be in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem with the challenging climb to the finish line at ALYN Hospital. Sde Boker sits in the heart of Israel’s Negev Desert. The location is so visually inspiring that David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister moved there to join the original small kibbutz. Cyclists come to the Negev from all over the world to experience the incredible trails and roads that cross the mountains, valleys, and dry rivers of the Negev. We will have detailed maps available within the next few weeks. In 2020, there will be six riding routes, plus a hiking route. The cycling routes will be:

• Road: Average 65 km of road riding at a moderate pace with 750 meters of climbing
• Road Plus: Average 85 km of road riding at a faster pace with 1,000 meters of climbing
• Challenge: Average 110 km of riding at a fast pace with over 2,000 meters of climbing.
• Touring: Average 30 km of riding for 2 hours and then off-bike touring of fascinating desert sites
• Trail: Average 40 km of trail riding at a moderate pace with some singles and easy technical obstacles
• Enduro: Average 60 km of trail riding at a faster pace with more singles and more challenging technical obstacles.

Detailed information will be available soon.  

We know that for many of you, the thought of asking friends for money to fundraise for the ride is uncomfortable and might be uncharted territory. Don’t worry – fundraising is much easier and more rewarding than you might expect, especially when you are raising money for such an incredible cause. ALYN Hospital is such a unique and special place, that once you share with others about the hospital and the children receiving rehabilitation there, people will be willing to support you. How do we know? We have nearly 20 years of experience and thousands of riders who have successfully raised money for ALYN as proof.

Remember, the people who will sponsor you will do so because of your relationship with them. They are YOUR friends and YOUR family! They trust what you have to say. The more personal you can make the request, the better. Start by personalizing your fundraising page. Send us a picture of yourself and a few sentences about why you are riding (90 words or less.) It does not have to be long, what’s more important is that it comes from you. If you want to write a lot more — great! Write your story in an email that you send with your link. Let us know if you need any help. Once you have your page set up the way you like it, send the link with an email to your contacts. You can post it on Facebook or other social media. Again, the more personal you can make the request, the more likely you are lto receive a favorable response. We have a sample letter you can use (Fundraising Tool #2). Make sure to tweak it and make it personal, so that the people you are asking know it is a genuine ask from you. Then follow these four steps:

1. Aim high. Set an ambitious fundraising goal for yourself. The minimum you need to raise is between $3,000 and $4,000, but we hope you will aim for more. If you can ride for five days straight, up and down hills, through all types of weather, you can certainly go the extra mile for the children of ALYN. Over 50% of riders raise over $5,000. That’s a great goal.
2. Make a personal donation. Lead by example. To convince others to make a contribution, it helps to show that you are equally committed to the cause. Your registration fee helps pay for the ride logistics; donations are sent directly to the hospital.
3. Ask friends and family. It’s easiest to start with those closest to you. Once you convey your excitement about participating in Wheels of Love and they learn about ALYN, they will be happy to support you. Suggest an amount with which they would be comfortable.
4. Expand your asking circle. If you think beyond closest family and friends, there are endless possibilities: neighbors, work colleagues and business associates, acquaintances from school, college, synagogue/church, the health club and your biking club. If you work for a company with a matching gifts program, you may be able to multiply the effect of your gift. A basic rule of fundraising is that the main reason people give is because they have been asked by someone they know and trust. That someone is you!

Roi is 9 ½ years old from Jerusalem, the second of four children. He likes to play games like Legos, marbles, chess, checkers and to draw. He is an excellent student and particularly good at math. Roi was diagnosed in January 2017 with brain cancer and came to ALYN Hospital after beginning his treatment. From the Channel 2 news broadcast: Roi started his treatment at ALYN Hospital as an inpatient in our Rehabilitation Department and is now a patient in the Day Hospitalization Department, coming for intensive therapeutic treatments four days a week. After the removal of the cancerous growth from the back of his head, he experienced serious developmental decline and didn’t talk or move for a long time. Roi now is still too weak to walk alone or without the assistance of a walker, and uses a wheelchair for longer distances. At ALYN Hospital, Roi benefits from hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and emotional support therapies such as music & art therapy. Since Roi has been missing regular school for many months, he also learns in our Learning Center so that he can keep up with his studies. “Hebrew and math are important to me” he says in the interview. His mother Gina says, “It wasn’t obvious that he would have his . . . anything. We had no idea what he would gain back, what he wouldn’t gain back. He loves math, so for me that’s amazing.” Later in the interview she says, “Every stage that he reaches, it’s simply a miracle.” At the end of the interview, Roi says about his treatment at ALYN Hospital, “It helps me be myself and it helps me return to who I was before the surgery. A regular kid.”

Please help me help the kids at ALYN walk, talk, and go home to their families. I know what it’s like to be one of those kids. Because their story is my story”

Adina Adina Elbaz was 16 years old when she was involved in a horrific accident. She was crossing the street on her way to school when a minibus hit her. She suffered a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and multiple injuries and traumas. After her life was stabilized at another hospital, she was brought to ALYN for rehabilitation. She was unable to walk, talk, or do any activities independently. In the beginning of her treatment, she lived at ALYN 24 hours/day, 7 days a week. Her mother was with her every morning, her father every evening, and family friends around the clock so that she was never alone. ALYN provided her with hydrotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychological treatment, and a range of other therapies. A team of around ten doctors, therapists, and specialists worked with her every day. Gradually she was able to go home for a few days every week. Then after 7 months, she was able to go home and continued treatment as an ALYN outpatient. Under the care of ALYN, her progress was dramatic and exceeded all expectations. Seven years ago, she rode a tricycle at the finish line of Wheels of Love to welcome the hundreds of riders who had ridden all week in support of ALYN. Six years ago, she rode a portion of one day of the ride as a member of the “Swift and the Bold” a team of riders made up of kids who have received treatment at ALYN. The next year, she rode a full day on a tandem bike with veteran ALYN rider Rocky Brody. Every year, she has ridden more. For the past few years, she has been training on her own mountain bike, riding more and more on her own -something that would have been unthinkable just a short time ago.

This article is a translation to English by ALYN Hospital staff of extracts of the original article, which was written by Dana Ben Shimon and appeared on mynetjerusalem on 18 April 2019. Photo credit: Yoav Dodkevich.  He fell into a five-story lift shaft and had a big fracture in his skull. Last week, after a complicated operation and a long rehabilitation, Yusef Jardat was released from the hospital and spoke for the first time to the press: “They saved me and now things are much better.” And also: his father talks about the fears, his son’s fear of entering a lift alone, and the difficult months the family went through: “Four months that looked like ten years.” Yusef Jardat waited for this day for a long time. After a head injury which was caused by a fall down the shaft of a lift and a two-month rehabilitation at ALYN Hospital, he was released this week to go back to his home in Kfar Aqab, but continues to be undergoing treatment as an out-patient. “I want to go back to my friends and to my home, and I also miss school,” he told us this week in his first conversation since he was hospitalised, underwent surgery and underwent rehabilitation. “My head was open, they operated me, they saved me, and now things are much better.” The lift opened and Yusef fell into the shaft Yusef’s serious accident occurred mid-December, when the boy pressed the lift button in the 12-story building where he lived. When the doors opened, the lift was not there. Yusef fell down the shaft and was severely wounded in his face. “It was a rainy and stormy evening, he fell down on iron in the dark, like in a movie,” recalls his father, Kazem. “A neighbor said that there was a child from the Jardat family who fell in a lift,” says the father. “I went down quickly and realised that it was Yusef. The doctors told me that they couldn’t believe that he was alive after what happened.” Yusef was taken by ambulance to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, with a large fracture that split his face in two. At Hadassah, they performed the unbelievable – they were able to put his skull back together during a complicated operation. He was later transferred to ALYN Hospital for rehabilitation, with his family accompanying him throughout the process. “When Yusef came to ALYN Hospital, he was not able to get up,” says his father. “Twice a day he underwent physiotherapy. He also received emotional care and a lot of encouragement from the staff. Because his head was badly injured, it affected his entire face.” “I felt there was no point in anything” The serious injury didn’t just change Yusef’s life, his whole family was affected by it. He is my little son,” says his pained father, “and when I saw him that way, I felt that I had no energy to do anything anymore. I stopped going to work, and since then my wife and I have become very close to him.” His mother Lina makes sure to always be by his side and notes that she is inspired to do so by the seeing how far her son has come. “We knew from the beginning that it would be very difficult for Yusef to get through this, because of his severe head injury. We waited for a miracle,” she says. “Here, thank God, the situation has improved, the doctors treated him very well and his mood is getting much better.” His father adds: “The life of everyone has changed because of what happened. My wife can’t even go to the doctor because Yusef doesn’t want her to leave him. His older brothers visit him a soon as they come back from work. Everyone spoils him. These four months have looked like ten years to us.” Rapid Recovery Yusef underwent rehabilitation treatment, during which he got back on his feet and began walking again. “We had to teach him how to walk again because he had a very complicated leg fracture. He also had difficulty speaking because of the fracture in his jaw and we helped him with that as well, in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and he was helped to eat independently”, explains Yusef’s accompanying physician in the rehabilitation department of ALYN Hospital. “His head injury was significant, but he was lucky that there was no brain damage. He also had fractures in his skull, and it’s very rare for someone who has experienced such an event to recover relatively quickly. He has progressed very well in rehabilitation, and I can say that he is also a brilliant child.” “He will have to undergo a long treatment for facial scars, but there is no doubt that his rehabilitation is developing amazingly.” Recently, as the rehabilitation process progressed and his condition improved, Yusef began to go to the school that was established inside ALYN Hospital and learned Hebrew and English there. He will no longer be able to complete his school year in Kfar Aqab, but the improvement in his condition gives him hope that he will be able to join his classmates and go with them next year to fourth grade, and especially to return to his regular life in his village. He will have to go to ALYN Hospital’s outpatient clinic three times a week for supportive treatment and follow-up, but for Yusef and his parents, this is great news. “Of course we’re happy,” says the father. “In recent months I have barely left Yusef’s side, I have been with him all along, and his situation has improved slowly, but now he will be able to return to his family. Lately, he was able to come home on weekends, but now he will finally be able to sleep at home every day. This is the biggest relief.”

13 March, 2019 This article has been translated to English by ALYN Hospital staff. The original article, written by Lior El Hai, appeared in Yediot Ahronoth on 13 March 2019. Photo credit: Alex Kolomoisky. Click to read the original article in Yediot Aharonot (Hebrew). Three years ago, Aviel Avrahamoff (9) from Jerusalem was run over during a family outing, and the doctors considered amputating his leg. The boy overcame the condition, grew stronger and during the long rehabilitation, even began to practise running – proving that anything was possible. Tomorrow he will participate in the 5K of the Jerusalem marathon. When you are determined, dedicated and believe in your abilities – nothing can stop you. Aviel Abrahamoff (9) from Jerusalem proves it. Tomorrow, three years after his leg was nearly amputated due to an accident, he will participate in the Jerusalem marathon in the 5K. The accident happened in Haifa during a fun day which he spent with his family when he was six years old. A driver who accidentally accelerated instead of braking, slid into a field near the road where Aviel was walking with his family and hit him. Aviel was seriously injured. He was transferred to Rambam Medical Center and was rushed into the operating room. “The doctor told me that the situation was complicated, and it could be possible that in the middle of the operation he would ask me to sign an agreement to amputate Aviel’s entire leg. It was shocking to me that Aviel could return home with only one leg,” recalls Aviel’s mother, Vered. Fortunately, the operation was successful. From that point on, Aviel began a long and difficult rehabilitation process at ALYN Hospital, in his home town of Jerusalem, which is a facility designed for rehabilitation especially for children and youth. In the beginning, Aviel couldn’t even stand on the injured leg and found it difficult to move it. Thanks to the intensive and devoted care of the team, slowly but surely he made progress. He was eventually able to stand on both legs and even joined the running group of hospitalized children. Nurit Stern, a senior physiotherapist at ALYN Hospital, said: “We are not satisfied with the fact that the children will only learn to walk again, therefore we are instilling in them the value of sport, training and overcoming difficulties.” At the end of the rehabilitation period, Aviel returned home, but continued to train with the running team. Tomorrow, about three years after he almost lost his leg, he will run with his teammates the 5K in the Jerusalem marathon to be held in the city. Aviel told Yedioth Ahronoth yesterday: “After the accident, I didn’t think that I could run again. I am excited about the race and expect to finish the run in less than 40 minutes.” His father Eitan will run alongside him. Yesterday he said excitedly: “When we cross the finish line, it will be a great victory for Aviel.” His mother Vered summarizes: “Hats off to the staff of ALYN Hospital! When we arrived there we did not know in what condition we would leave. They helped Aviel undergo rehabilitation thoroughly and professionally. Aviel used to run before the injury, and now he has managed to return to his favourite sport.”

“Eleven-year-old Thala, who was severely burned in a car accident and lost her fingers because of it, wanted to work in the ALYN therapeutic garden. But she couldn’t hold onto gardening tools with just one hand. So last month, Elinor Tal and Nevo Fryd, students at the Holon Institute of Technology Fixperts course, collaborated with workers at ALYN to find a solution for Thala.  From the Times of Israel.” Read the whole article.

The Watchman, a Christian television program did a short segment about ALYN Hospital and how the staff views “no problem as insurmountable” when it comes to the rehabilitation of physically disabled children. The video presents some of the children treated at ALYN and their families, as well as interviews with the medical staff.

Shira came to ALYN after a serious car accident in which she lost all the muscle strength in her legs. In just a few months she stunned the therapists at ALYN with her amazing progress. This video was produced 5 years ago and since then she has ridden a portion of Wheels of Love every year.

Yusuf is 8 years old and like to jump and play with his friends and like everyone else, likes to eat. The Pele Center at ALYN developed a solution for him to be able to eat without assistance.