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There is no doubt that without the heart pump (the Berlin Heart), Aaron would not have made it. And without the Hong Kong Jewish community's amazingly unified efforts to pay for and bring that pump to Hong Kong, the pump would never have worked its magic and saved Aaron's life. That Herculean effort of the combined community will survive in many ways as the community's finest hour.

Aaron was struck down by myocarditis on Wednesday morning and on Thursday morning he was moved from Queen Mary Hospital to Grantham Hospital. There doctors put him on an ECMO machine, which takes over the heart's pumping function, pulling the blood out of the heart, down through a tube to the bottom of the bed, where it is spun around in the machine and then shot back up through another tube into the heart. The ECMO machine is used mostly for short-term heart surgery and is not intended to serve as a long-term replacement for the heart muscle function. But for Aaron, by replacing the heart function, the ECMO machine was intended to let his heart rest, giving it time either to defeat the virus or simply the time to let the virus pass.

Aaron's first full day on ECMO went well. But by Saturday morning the doctors were alarmed. His body's vital functions were weakening. They told Aaron's parents, David and Joy, that they needed to think about importing a Berlin Heart pump from Germany or Aaron would die. But the pump was very expensive--with the machine and the small vessels that hold the blood, it runs about US$350,000. They decided to reconvene in a half hour to talk about how to pay for the pump and how to get it to Hong Kong.

Although it was Saturday morning, and many of the Zweig's friends should have been in synagogue, there were dozens of people at the hospital, waiting and worrying alongside the Zweigs. So when they reconvened, the library was crowded with family friends, community leaders, Joy's closest women friends, and the Israeli Consul General, Eli Avidar. Joining the medical team was the agent for the German company, Brenda, who could arrange for the purchase of the pump.

The doctors explained why Aaron needed the pump and how he would die without it. Community members asked why the hospital didn't import the pump immediately, but the Hong Kong government would not foot such a large bill for such a specialized machine that would be used so infrequently. It had other priorities. Several attendees barked in that price was no object, and when informed that it would cost US$350,000 to buy and ship the pump—aand the medical team that needed to implant it into Aaron's heart to Hong Kong, one member of the community slapped his credit card down on the table! "Buy it," he said. He was not alone; had he hesitated, several others appeared ready prepared to do the same.

With the deal confirmed, the team swung into action. One German speaker called Lufthansa in Germany to give them a head's up that their services would be needed. Another close friend of the Zweig's called a member of the Jewish community who owns a trucking firm—his services would be needed to get the pump from the airport to the hospital. An orthodox rabbi who would never use electric equipment on the Jewish Sabbath, used his cell phone to call Tung Chee-hwa, the Hong Kong chief executive, to make sure that Hong Kong customs did not hold up the pump at the airport. The Israeli consul general called his counterpart in Berlin, warning him that his services may become needed.

While this is a story about the community, the role of the doctors was absolutely critical. The team, loed by Dr. K.T. Chau, quickly called the Hospital Authority to elicit permission for a German doctor, who implants the pump, to perform the surgery on Aaron in Hong Kong. They knew the risk—tthat they were accepting responsibility to use this pump, a technology that they had used only once before, but which had failed to save a young girl five years before. But despite having failed the first time, they were ready again to risk their reputations and try once more. They had already arranged for the agent to come to the hospital, even before they told the Zweigs about their plan. So, once the Zweigs agreed and the community jumped in, the agent was ready to act.

The pump did not cooperate that Saturday. After flying from Berlin to Frankfurt, it missed the connecting flight to Hong Kong, leaving it stranded on the airport runway. So, some people phoned Lufthansa, to see if it could be moved onward, while David tracked down Tony Tyler--then a VP for Corporate Communications and now CEO--of Cathay Pacific, which loaded the pump onto their plane and brought it the rest of the way to Hong Kong.

The community was amazing. Prayer services were held every evening for Aaron, one service where men and women could pray together, another where man and women prayed seperatly. A "food team" was set up to bring lunch and dinner to the Zweigs at the hospital, every day for several weeks. The Zweigs were never alone. A breakfast brigade also stepped in, bringing Starbucks coffee and muffins every morning. And the phones never stopped ringing.

Two rabbis from Paris stopped by at the hospital, bringing their spiritual leader's prayer shawl, in an effort to enhance Aaron's luck and pull in more help from G-d. Many of David's friends spent hours on the phone, calling doctors they knew around the world: in Boston,, Toronto, Paris and Israel—sseeking advice and passing it along to David. At one point, we began to worry that all this concern and love was backfiring--perhaps the Hong Kong doctors would start to worry that the Zweigs had lost confidence in them. So, to turn around their concerns, David called all his friends together at the hospital, telling them that though he loved them and their efforts, they had to stop because they were undermining the doctors' sense of confidence. To David's face, they all agreed to stop immediately. But two seconds after David turned his back and went into the intensive care unit, the phones were all had flipped open again, establishing contact between the Hong Kong Jewish community and Jewish medical community around the globe. So much for listening to David!

The day Aaron came home triggered a celebration among all the Jews in Hong Kong. More than 100 people; Aaron's classmates, school mates, parents, businessmen and women, principals, teachers, and anyone else who was a friend of Aaron, were waiting outside the main door of Grantham, with balloons, banners and love.

A fund was set up to pay the donor back for the machine, and several hundred thousand US dollars flooded in rapidly.

Thereafter, the community has supported Aaron's recovery with love, attention and kindness. They recognize his courage and reward his daring with signs of affection and respect. Aaron knows that he is loved by this entire community, and that has made him even stronger.