A a compassionate IDF soldier…a stem cell transplant facilitated by Ezer Mizion… and here i am – alive today!
Flying 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean is not an easy job! Ofer had already spent 17 years as a fighter pilot in the IDF. In 2003 he left the reserves and joined El-Al full time. “Most people don’t realize that being a pilot is a very dangerous profession. When you know it is dangerous, you are safe but when you think it is easy, when you’re a cowboy, you are unsafe! A pilot’s job is to always be alert in case something happens.” Ofer always remained alert with hundreds of travelers under his wing, quite literally!Continue reading Flying High
Ezer Mizion’s Director of Development: an ‘almost match’
“Good morning. Is this Mr. Hyman? I’m calling from the bone marrow registry. You have been found to be a match for a cancer patient!”
I was sitting in my office when I received that call. I had been tested sometime around 1998 and had not thought about that day in years. Then, quite literally, out of the blue, I was asked if I would be willing to go through further testing to confirm that I was a match for “the patient.”
My response was simple: tell me what to do!! The caller from the registry went through some basic info and made sure to tell me that while the procedure for me as a potential stem cell donor, was safe, it was still my choice and “are you sure you want to go through this process?” Continue reading So You Got A Call To Be A Stem Cell Donor?
34 transplants, 28 from donor pools 3,230 total transplants (of these 1,965 from the IDF) 985,186 members in registry (of these 544,281 from the IDF) Transplant Countries
Argentina, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA
May 2019 – BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY ACTIVITY SUMMARY 26 transplants, 20 from donor pools 3,196 total transplants (of those, 1,936 from the IDF) 982,648 members in registry (of those, 544,015 from the IDF) Transplant Countries Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, USA
“Please come into my office and…and bring a friend.” That was my doctor on the line with the results of the blood work. We had just had a baby and I, the father, felt so weak. With our first, I helped out a lot. With #2, I felt too weak to even hold the baby. Something seemed very wrong. And now I was about to find out what. “Bring a friend,” she had said. It sounded ominous. And so there we sat, my friend and I, when, with tears in her eyes, my doctor said those words: You have leukemia.
How do I tell my wife? With a newborn at home. How do I tell my mother? My brother had recently battled a brain tumor…and lost. Now again?! Well, I was released from the hospital and went home, arriving very close to Shabbat. I felt that I couldn’t ruin my wife’s Shabbat so I kept quiet. After Shabbat, I told her. My wife and I cried together but we were determined. We just had to find a way to move forward. We were not going to collapse. We were not going to give up. We’d fight. We’d do our part and G-d would do His.
It wasn’t easy. That very Sunday was my sister’s wedding. I simply couldn’t ruin the wedding for my sister, for my mother who was finally seemed happy after my brother’s death. So I told everyone that I had hurt my back. The truth was that I simply had no energy, the leukemia coursing through my body, sapping me of all my strength. On the last day of the week of wedding celebrations, I told my mother the news. It was so hard for her to accept. But a lifetime of faith in G-d came to fore as she internalized and helped me to internalize, “We are all in the hands of G-d”.
At the hospital, I missed my family terribly. One day my daughter came to visit me. But when she started coughing, she had to leave for fear that I would catch her cold.
I have to tell you, my wife is truly amazing. She gave me the best gift – a poster with pictures of my children. I just burst into tears at the sight of that simple but powerful gift.
Meanwhile, the hospital began swabbing my siblings for the bone marrow transplant. Two of my sisters were good matches but one had just given birth and the other was expecting.
Then Ezer Mizion came into my life with a perfect match!!! It was incredible how fast Ezer Mizion worked. I received the round of chemo to completely destroy my immune system in preparation for the transplant. Some people lose their minds from this mega-dose of chemo. I decided to keep my focus by studying Talmud .
The day of my transplant, I woke up to find my room decorated with signs wishing me a happy birthday. My wife! Sure, it was an extremely scary day for us all, but it was also a day of celebration – I was getting my life back, being born again, my family was getting our lives back. What a powerful moment.
The transplant was a success and a month later I was released from the hospital, having finished the section of the Talmud I had chosen just 2 days before.
When I met my donor, he shared with me that the same month he donated his bone marrow, that very same month, his wife conceived. He gave a life and he got a life.
I want to thank him and Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry who facilitated my transplant for not only saving my life, but for saving my entire family.
BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY ACTIVITY SUMMARY 38 transplants, 31 from donor pools 3,138 total transplants (of these, 1,885 from IDF soldiers) 968,490 members in registry (of these, 532,358 from IDF soldiers)
Transplant Countries
Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, USA
Donor Pool Countries
Brazil, Canada, Israel, UK, USA
BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY ACTIVITY SUMMARY
This is a record! 39 transplants in one month!! 33 of these from donor pools – also a record! 3,100 total transplants 965,423 members in registry
Transplant Countries
France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, Turkey, USA
Nissan sat opposite his doctor, his fists clenched in tension. Read on as he tells his story.
“I don’t want to sugar coat it. You have leukemia and it doesn’t look good.”
“These were not the words I was hoping to hear. The hardest part was informing our entire family.
After two rounds of chemotherapy, I was told to contact my brothers and sisters immediately as I needed a bone marrow transplant. “I don’t have a brother or sister,” I whispered in a barely audible voice. “I’m an only child.” Continue reading Your Friend in the Sky
31 transplants, 23 from donor pools 3,033 total transplants 955,562 members in registry Transplant Countries
Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Poland, Turkey, UK, USA Donor Pool Countries
Brazil, Israel, UK, USA
