New York, NY – Five years after a booby-trapped bomb caused an EMT to temporarily declare him dead in a Gaza stairwell, 27 year-old 2nd Lt. Aharon Karov completed the New York City Marathon, capping years of grueling rehabilitation while raising over $40K for that organization that helped him regain his life.

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL (http://bit.ly/1ekqtS0) reports that the 2008 Gaza explosion left Karov clinging to life, with severe shrapnel injuries to the head, a dislodged nose, a dismembered left eye, and his entire left side crushed under the weight of debris from the blast.

Karov underwent 18 hrs. of emergency surgery, which left him in a coma.

After 10 days, Karov awoke and began a 5 year-long ordeal to regain his life, including having to learn to speak and re-learn all of his bodily movements all over again.

“I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move my hand, but I just had to go on,” Karov said Saturday prior to the marathon.

But he said the outpouring of love and support from around the world helped him keep his commitment to recovery.

“All of Israel was writing me letters — haredim [ultra orthodox], dati’im [religious people], hilonim [secular Israelis], people from America, France — from all over the world,” Karov said. “Everyone wrote to me, they were praying for me, and together gave me the strength to say yes, I will beat this.”

Karov finished Sunday’s race in 4:13:31, raising over $40,000 for the OneFamily Fund, the terror-victim advocacy organization that helped he and his family through his ordeal.

Courtesy from Times Of Israel