By Hannah Miller
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Press Release)–Sometimes the phone rings and it is a neighbor asking for a favor. Sometimes the phone rings and it is a request for charity. Sometimes the phone rings and it is a notification that you are the only one in the world that can save the life of another Jew.
“This is what happened to me,” says Tzvi Lax, an IDF soldier from Jerusalem. “’Who, me?!’” was my shocked response. The caller reminded me that I had registered with Ezer Mizion’s International Jewish Bone Marrow Registry and assured me that it was true. A five year old boy was fighting a monster called Cancer for the second time in his young life. This time, the doctors have said that a bone marrow transplant is his only chance to live. To be successful, both donor and recipient must be a genetic match. And so they turned to Ezer Mizion, the largest Jewish registry in the world. Ezer Mizion searched its vast registry of over 500,000 potential donors. Success! A match was found. It was me!
“I arrived at Sheba Hospital, where I was attached to a machine for a few hours. They poked me with a needle in two different places. The blood flowed from one arm, went into the machine where the bone marrow was collected from it. Then the rest of the blood was returned to my body through the other arm. I didn’t feel any pain or even weakness. At the end of the process, I saw that they took a small bag filled with yellow liquid. It amazed me to see that such a small amount of liquid could save a life.
“A little over a year later, for the first time I met little Nimrod Bradpiece, now a seven year old who loves playing ball and can climb the local jungle gym with the best of them. He looked excitedly into my eyes and shyly whispered Thank You. Our eyes met in a shared bond…a bond of connection…a bond of eternity. ”
For further information: http://www.ezermizion.org
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Miller is public relations director in the United States for Ezer Mizion