By Einav Lulian .
PETACH TIKVAH, Israel — The day I made my way through the frantic atmosphere of the recruitment base, waiting for my new green IDF uniform, I never thought that with a little pinch of a needle at theEzer Mizionbone marrow sample testing booth, I could save a human life.
They took a blood sample anyway for the IDF so I figured – what’s another prick? There are so many sick people out there, it was the least I could do. Like hundreds of other soldiers at the recruitment base every day, I too did my part for the cause.
After my draft into the IDF, I was stationed as an operational official at the Hammers squadron on a busy air-force base. As part of my job, I was used to responding to never-ending phone calls: an emergency rush takeoff or unplanned scenario. But this time, the call was different and absolutely unexpected. The caller wasEzer Mizion’s Registry telling me that a very ill patient needed a donation of my genetically matching stem cells.
I had almost forgotten all about the sample I gave. When they called to tell me that I was a match, I literarily cried with joy and I cry every time I relive the dramatic moment. I had no doubt that I wanted to go through with it. I was just afraid that something would go wrong and I wouldn’t be qualified anymore. I didn’t know what was required of me but I was certain that I was going to do it.
A row of tests revealed a 100% match. I stood, tall and determined, outside the hospital doors. I walked towards the oncology floor and saw many difficult, sad things. It brought tears to my eyes. I felt like I was really doing something important. The process was not especially pleasant. I was connected to machines, was very weak and uncomfortable, but all I could think of was how the person who needs my stem cells feels.” My parents and friends were behind me all the way. I got such positive feedback from everyone I knew.
Now, in the aftermath of the transplant, one mystery remains: the identity of the recipient. Right now, all I know that it is a middle-aged man. Other than that, I don’t know a thing: how many children he has, what illness he has, if he smokes, nothing.
Standard international legal procedure in bone marrow transplants is to allow the donor and recipient to meet only after a year has elapsed, and even that is dependent on many factors. In this case, I will have to wait two years. In the interim, I decided to write my recipient a letter and send it to the patient viaEzer Mizion.
In carefully penned words, I thanked the patient for giving me the privilege of saving a life. I don’t know yet if the donation was accepted and what his condition is today. I hope and pray that it was a success.
I made a virtual revolution in my family and service unit. Following my example, many of my relatives and my friends at the base decided to join the Registry as well, in the hope that they too might “win the jackpot” and have a chance to save a life.
It was only a prick but its repercussions are vast. The patient may attend a grandchild’s wedding, perhaps a Bar Mitzvah of a great-grandchild. Maybe he would father another child who would grow to maturity, marry and raise his own family, who would, in turn, grow….One prick for eternity.
For further info: www.ezermizion.org
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Preceding provided by Ezer Mitzion