"Mommy, I love you," were the last words of 3-1/2 year old Omri, moments before he died of cancer. Now, four years after the terrible loss, and following long years of fertility treatments, the family has been blessed with twins!

Smadar Shir, Ynet

Four years ago, Omri Raziel's big eyes were reflected from newspaper ads and television screens. "I'm not asking for too much - just one drop," was the bone marrow donor recruitment drive slogan, and all of Israel rallied to save the three year old child stricken by cancer. 27,000 blood samples were collected in one day, but by the time a potential donor was located among them, it was already too late.

Now, four years later, Sigal and Yoni Raziel embrace double joy - twins, a boy and a girl. "Optimism prevails," says the elated mother, adding painfully - "Omri lives with us, but from afar."

An Especially Aggressive Cancerous Growth

For the first two years of his life, Omri was a healthy, lively child. "A first-rate stooge," his parents fondly called him. One night, he woke up and screamed that his leg hurt, but the family pediatrician didn't find anything. The pains intensified, he limped, and then, when he began to lose his vision, they discovered a tumor the size of a plum in his head. A biopsy showed that it was a cancerous growth of a particularly violent and aggressive type - non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Omri went through six difficult chemotherapy treatments, and it looked as if they had succeeded in stopping the cancer. But when the pains returned, it became clear that the cancer was back, and this time, in an even more aggressive form, having already spread to the spinal fluid and brain marrow. All of Omri's close and more distant family members were checked, but nobody was found suitable as a bone marrow donor, nor was a match found in bone marrow registries anywhere in the world.

Omri's mother Sigal (42), who worked then as a news producer on Channel Two, harnessed all of her connections and talents to fight for her son's life. "I'm sure that somewhere in the world there is a matching donor for Omri," she told me then, when she fought for him like a lioness. "That 'someone' might even be living right across the street, under our noses."

The campaign that Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Donor Registry coordinated on Omri's behalf elicited a record number of blood samples, and when the suitable stem cell donor - a young man, age 30 - was found, victory seemed to be within reach.

"But Omri wasn't ready for the transplant," Sigal sighs. "In order for the transplant to succeed, the disease has to be in remission, and that didn't happen."

A Touching Parting from his Family

Omri was transferred to the "Weisel House" hospice at Tel Hashomer Sheba Medical Center. "Those were five weeks of laughter and love," his mother recalls wistfully. "A powerful sense of life permeated the room. We watched movies, listened to music, and went crazy over every cute line that Omri said.

"Omri made an amazing closure, parting with each person differently. The last time my parents came to visit him, he told them, 'It was fun being with you.' When Yoni's parents stood on both sides of the bed, he took Saba and Savta's hands and crossed them, creating a kind of playful game. Shai, his sister, gave him a picture she had drawn, and he sat with her, looked at it and hugged her. He parted from Yoni with a lot of physical contact. The last two days, he did not talk, but just before the end, he sat up in bed and said, "Mommy, I love you'..."

A year after Omri's death, his parents moved from Tel Aviv to the Hadar-Am settlement in Israel's Chefer Valley. Yoni continued working as a renovation contractor, while Sigal decided to change jobs.

For two years, she studied therapeutic gardening at "Hadassah Youth College" and then she began working with the special needs population in greenhouses that she developed, at a psychiatric hospital, and in classes of children with ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity).

"The television chapter of my life was over," she explained. I felt the need to turn over a new leaf, to help others, to connect to the soil. Omri's death changed me. I learned to live the small, everyday moments. I attained a new sense of proportions. I learned about love and empathy. Life with Omri was a priceless gift."

The Twins are Captivating in their Beauty

In the course of four years, Sigal underwent several IVF procedures by Dr. Ariel Weissman from the Wolfson Hospital, and did not give up hope.

"I never planned to stop after two children," she says, "and when the treatment finally took, I was sure it was twins. At the first ultrasound test, when Dr. Weissman said that the fetus is fine, I asked, 'Nu?' because I had felt so strongly that there was another baby in there."

Last week, the twins - a boy and a girl - were born. "Tiny - each one just over two kilos, and captivatingly beautiful."

Their sister Shai (12) resumed her role as a big sister. When her mother nurses Maya, her new little sister, Shai cuddles her new baby brother in her arms.

Pictures of Omri are displayed all over the house. "He lives with us, but from afar," says Sigal, who is adjusting to her new role as a "milk factory." Between nursing and diapering, she wishes "a fertile year to all the women who dream about babies - a year of health, joy and love."