We found out that Matan has HOCM when he was 4 months old. We were sent to Rambam Medical Center to start the treatment with beta-blockers (Propranolol). We were lucky to find from the beginning a good doctor with experience treating children with HOCM.  He explained all our options from the drugs to the operation (myectomy)

Matan?s case is so severe that there was no doctor ready to perform the operation, so we referred the case to hospitals in the USA, London, Canada and Germany. With no hope, no clear answers, and no solution. Then, at the age of 2 years Matan developed arrhythmias during sleep.  One more time we had to decide what to do ? we decided to try the drug treatment first with the anti-arrhythmic (Amiodarone).  It worked and since then all the test results were good and gave us hope.

The doctors cannot explain the fact that Matan is growing and has an active life ? like a normal child. Now he is almost 4 years old !!! For us he is a miracle ? Matan means ?to give" in Hebrew. We believe He is a gift from God. We try to hold in our hearts every smile and every precious moment with him.

From the first diagnosis we decided he will have a normal life and that we will do all we can to prevent him from suffering. I started to treat Matan with ?Reiki? ? The power of life. We also try to follow a good diet, with small meals. We also decided to send him to the kindergarten when he was 3, though we had no recommendations from the doctors for that.

We hope a cure will be found for all the HOCM patients. We did tests to find the gene causing the disease in our family, so we will be able to stop this disease, which is in our family for 3 generations.