Giving the Gift of Life
As some of you may know, I have spent the past few weeks in the Boston area taking some seminars and doing student-teaching as part of my graduate program. I will be returning to Jerusalem on Sunday to complete my final year in my Masters program in Jewish Education.
Anyway, about three months ago a representative from Gift of Life visited my school in Jerusalem. Gift of Life is part of the National Marrow Donor Program which registers individuals primarily of Eastern-European Jewish ethnicity who could become potential bone marrow donors for patients around the world. Now, I had registered with them five years ago in college and as my friends lined up to sign up, I remembered how easy the process had been for me. Basically, I just took a q-tip and swiped the inside of my cheek for a few moments and gave them my contact info. Upon recollection, I realized that I had moved so many times since 2002 that Gift of Life probably didn't have my up-to-date contact information. So I emailed the organization, told them my new email address, and forgot about it.
Fast forward three months. I was in America for my last two weeks of the US-component of my program student teaching. In between teaching my 6th and 7th grade classes on the Book of Judges, I received an email.
Dear Sarah,
My name is Betsy and I am contacting you from The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. You registered with us on February 27, 2002 at a drive we held at Hillel, University of Florida. Recently a search was done and you came up as a potential match for a patient in need of a bone marrow transplant. This is a 23 year old female with Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia in need of a bone marrow transplant...
I can't even begin to describe my feelings when I first read that email. The knowledge that I have the potential for saving someone's life simply because I exist is just so powerful. Not because I'm a heart surgeon, not because I'm a crisis counselor, not because I'm a fire fighter, simply because I was born. The fact that I exist has the potential to save someone's life. The Talmud teaches that "He who saves one life, it is as if he has saved the entire world." In my mind, there is nothing higher and more holy than being able to save someone else's life.
This week, I went in for some blood tests. I was told that I will hear from them in the next 7-60 days. (I feel like that's saying, "We'll have a plumber come by to fix your toilet some time between 10am and 6pm some day next week.") The next step will be to determine that I'm healthy and that my blood type does in fact exactly match the person with whom I was originally matched. If this goes through I will undergo one of two possible procedures either in the US or Israel to gather some of my bone marrow to give to this woman who needs it.
In researching this a bit, the incredible-ness of this opportunity becomes even more clear to me. Unlike some other medical procedures done to those suffering from cancer or other diseases affecting the bone marrow, if a bone marrow transfusion is successful it is successful. The donor's healthy bone marrow can replaces the unhealthy marrow of the patient and if all goes well, that's it. The patient no longer has cancer. No more chemotherapy, no more radiation, no more cancer. Of course there are always the possibilities of complications, but a perfectly matched bone marrow donation can quite literally save the life of a patient. Full stop.
At this point in the process, there's nothing more for me to do but sit and wait and pray and hope that for her sake, I am a compatible match for her. But I'm too impatient to just sit and wait after such an opportunity has fallen into my lap. So I wanted to share with all the beginnings of this story and encourage you to get registered as a potential bone marrow donor. In reality, a very, very small percent of those who register are ever called to be a potential match, but can you imagine if you were one of those? If, simply by existing, you have the potential to save someone else's life? And to register is so easy everyone can do it.
Gift of Life deals primarily with Ashkenazi Jews, but their database is part of the larger worldwide registry of bone marrow donors. Getting yourself into a registry is really easy – all it entails is swiping the inside of your cheek with special q-tips. You can check out www.giftoflife.org or www.marrow.org online for information on registering yourself individually. Even better, you can see information on the site about finding or organizing a bone marrow registration drive in your local community/church/synagogue/school.
In the meantime, if my process continues to the next steps, I'll be sure to let you know.
Some links with more info:
Gift if Life donor registry information - http://www.giftoflife.org/donors/10.html
National Marrow Donor Program registry information - http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Registry/index.html
Lots of Bone Marrow Transplant Information - http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/medicine/bonemarrow/bmtinfo.html
With Wishes of Health to All,
Sarah
Anyway, about three months ago a representative from Gift of Life visited my school in Jerusalem. Gift of Life is part of the National Marrow Donor Program which registers individuals primarily of Eastern-European Jewish ethnicity who could become potential bone marrow donors for patients around the world. Now, I had registered with them five years ago in college and as my friends lined up to sign up, I remembered how easy the process had been for me. Basically, I just took a q-tip and swiped the inside of my cheek for a few moments and gave them my contact info. Upon recollection, I realized that I had moved so many times since 2002 that Gift of Life probably didn't have my up-to-date contact information. So I emailed the organization, told them my new email address, and forgot about it.
Fast forward three months. I was in America for my last two weeks of the US-component of my program student teaching. In between teaching my 6th and 7th grade classes on the Book of Judges, I received an email.
Dear Sarah,
My name is Betsy and I am contacting you from The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. You registered with us on February 27, 2002 at a drive we held at Hillel, University of Florida. Recently a search was done and you came up as a potential match for a patient in need of a bone marrow transplant. This is a 23 year old female with Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia in need of a bone marrow transplant...
I can't even begin to describe my feelings when I first read that email. The knowledge that I have the potential for saving someone's life simply because I exist is just so powerful. Not because I'm a heart surgeon, not because I'm a crisis counselor, not because I'm a fire fighter, simply because I was born. The fact that I exist has the potential to save someone's life. The Talmud teaches that "He who saves one life, it is as if he has saved the entire world." In my mind, there is nothing higher and more holy than being able to save someone else's life.
This week, I went in for some blood tests. I was told that I will hear from them in the next 7-60 days. (I feel like that's saying, "We'll have a plumber come by to fix your toilet some time between 10am and 6pm some day next week.") The next step will be to determine that I'm healthy and that my blood type does in fact exactly match the person with whom I was originally matched. If this goes through I will undergo one of two possible procedures either in the US or Israel to gather some of my bone marrow to give to this woman who needs it.
In researching this a bit, the incredible-ness of this opportunity becomes even more clear to me. Unlike some other medical procedures done to those suffering from cancer or other diseases affecting the bone marrow, if a bone marrow transfusion is successful it is successful. The donor's healthy bone marrow can replaces the unhealthy marrow of the patient and if all goes well, that's it. The patient no longer has cancer. No more chemotherapy, no more radiation, no more cancer. Of course there are always the possibilities of complications, but a perfectly matched bone marrow donation can quite literally save the life of a patient. Full stop.
At this point in the process, there's nothing more for me to do but sit and wait and pray and hope that for her sake, I am a compatible match for her. But I'm too impatient to just sit and wait after such an opportunity has fallen into my lap. So I wanted to share with all the beginnings of this story and encourage you to get registered as a potential bone marrow donor. In reality, a very, very small percent of those who register are ever called to be a potential match, but can you imagine if you were one of those? If, simply by existing, you have the potential to save someone else's life? And to register is so easy everyone can do it.
Gift of Life deals primarily with Ashkenazi Jews, but their database is part of the larger worldwide registry of bone marrow donors. Getting yourself into a registry is really easy – all it entails is swiping the inside of your cheek with special q-tips. You can check out www.giftoflife.org or www.marrow.org online for information on registering yourself individually. Even better, you can see information on the site about finding or organizing a bone marrow registration drive in your local community/church/synagogue/school.
In the meantime, if my process continues to the next steps, I'll be sure to let you know.
Some links with more info:
Gift if Life donor registry information - http://www.giftoflife.org/donors/10.html
National Marrow Donor Program registry information - http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Registry/index.html
Lots of Bone Marrow Transplant Information - http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/medicine/bonemarrow/bmtinfo.html
With Wishes of Health to All,
Sarah
posted by sarah @ 11:32 PM
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