The Stroke That Wasn’t a Stroke

By COLlive reporter

Last Sunday, Sarah Dukes shared an update about her husband Rabbi Yudi Dukes‘s medical condition which frightened her to her core.

Rabbi Yudi Dukes, Director of the Jnet organization who has been battling a severe case of Covid-19, was believed by his medical team to have suffered a stroke, the second one in recent weeks, on Motzei Shabbos.

“Yudi had another stroke last night,” his wife shared. “Thank G-d the doctor said he is now following commands so it doesn’t seem to have been a large one, but there are additional big concerns from the team, and Yudi will be having more tests and imaging done this morning to have more of an idea of what’s going on. Please pray that everything completely resolves itself,” she asked.

Immediately after sharing the news, thousands sent messages of support to Sarah that they believe with complete faith that G-d will help Yudi overcome his illness and return home to his family.

“In my heart, I truly believe that Yudi will come back home, but the reports from the doctor temporarily covered my trust over with fear,” Sarah said. “I was struggling to find my anchor again and reached out for support,” she said.

“And I didn’t just get support- I got the emes, the truth,” Sarah told COLlive.

“Thousands messaged me with complete confidence and belief telling me that they truly know Yudi will make it through this. Our thoughts have the significant power to actually shape our reality, and I know that when this many people are so tightly united and from all over the world, we will prevail. We will be triumphant. We will bring Yudi home,” she said.

And then, she says, she got the miracle that everyone has been praying for.

“We have been asking for revealed miracles and, thank G-d, today we got one!” Sarah told COLlive. “After additional assessment and comparisons, the team said that the evidence of a stroke in Yudi’s brain that they saw in last night’s CT scan was actually from his previous stroke, meaning that he really didn’t have a second stroke!”

“The doctors explained that Yudi’s non-responsiveness could have been caused by dangerously high co2 levels,” she says.

To help with this, Yudi has been put back on the vent with increased support and given more sedation to help his lungs recover.

“I know that G-d can make all this disappear, just like He made the ‘second stroke’ disappear- it was like it never existed!” Sarah says.

“I also know that the complete faith and trust that we have and the unity, love, and connection that has been created, G-d will have no choice but to continue showing us more and more miracles until Chaim Schneur Zalman Yehuda ben Hinda Yocheved arrives back home in full and complete health!”

Yudi will be undergoing a series of tests today. Please continue to Daven and join the campaign for his immediate recovery.

Please select a good resolution to take on, in the form of TORAH STUDY, PRAYER or any MITZVAH, in honor of his immediate and complete and recovery. Visit JNet.org/Mitzvah4Yudi to join.

Or, sign up to take on a JNet Chavrusa, to help Yudi’s Shlichus continue to grow. Sign up here to volunteer.