Itai Sadeh was a fun-loving guy as were his friends. Fun combined with a creative flair has led to some really good practical jokes. But this one left a bad taste in his mouth. Joking about a kid with cancer just wasn’t funny. It had to be a joke though. It couldn’t be real could it? 
He had just received a phone call that he was a genetic match to a little girl with cancer and she needed his bone marrow to save her life. He went along with the joke and gave his ok for someone at the registry to call him. The call came in shortly after that. It …it was real. His friends could never sound so professional. Then he remembered that he had registered with Ezer Mizion when he was inducted into the army. There really was a little girl out there whose life depended on him. He was told that the ball was now in his court. “Of course, I agreed. How could I not!”
At one of the first appointments, Sadeh learned that the little girl was suffering from leukemia. “They also told me that most likely, without the donation, she would not survive. I gulped when I heard that. I was also told that I would be able to meet her about a year later, but only in the event that the transplant was a success-I couldn’t bear to think of the other possibility- and that she and her family agreed to the meeting. They told me that the girl already knows a compatible donor was found and that there was a chance I would agree to it. Oh, how I ached to reassure her that very minute that, of course, I would do it. In the short time that I had known Ezer Mizion, I could see that they really cared and I knew they would do it for me. ”
He was told that he had to undergo various tests to check if there was perfect compatibility between him and the patient.
Sadeh did not hesitate for a moment. The opportunity to save a life was too important to refuse. “I didn’t have the slightest doubt that I wanted to go through with the donation. The people around me at the base and at home also gave me a lot of encouragement and support,” he added.
Over the last few months, Sadeh underwent a number of different tests, culminating with a four-hour donation procedure that might save the young cancer patient’s life. “The week before the donation, I started getting home injections that weakened me and caused flu-like symptoms, like bone and chest aches. But what is a bit of flu when compared to a little girl with cancer, who has to go through chemotherapy?” said Sadeh. “In the worst case scenario, I’ll be under the weather a few days.”
At the end, test results showed that Sadeh was a perfect match and preparations for the donation went into high gear. “In the course of the process, I thought a lot about the girl and about how I was giving her a chance to continue living. I want very much to meet her,” says Sadeh. “I am really interested to see that everything is all right with her and that the procedure was successful. When I do, I suppose I’ll ask her how she’s feeling and what she thinks of my blood. Was she telling more jokes than she used to? If I could, I would do the whole thing again. I think this is the first time I am contributing to another person, certainly in such a major way,” he points out. “It feels good.”
