Anat, the daughter of Jenny, who was saved thanks to a bone marrow donation from Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry, relates:
There is a 20-year difference between my mother and me. We have a ‘contract’, that she ‘retires’ at age 100, and I, at age 80 – and that way, we won’t miss our regular daily chat…
Two years ago, she almost broke the contract.
She was hospitalized because of… well, first they thought it was the flu with complications, or maybe an infection…perhaps arthritis, or… cancer. Mom got to the hospital in the eleventh hour. “If you would have come four days later, she would have died”, the medical staff informed us. We were shocked. I cannot begin to describe the terror a person feels when he or someone close to him is sick. The test results came in bit by bit. Then they said the word. The word that I didn’t want to hear. For us, the word “leukemia” was a death sentence.
I asked Mom if she is sure they did not confuse the test tubes, and she, who worked as a nurse in Beilinson Hospital for over thirty years, smiled sadly and said, “That’s what every patient hopes…” But here, to our great distress, there was no mistake.
Our entire family rallied for the battle. And it is really a fierce battle.
Chemotherapy: Round One. The leukemia seemed to be mocking us. “I’m still here…” Round two. Remission seemed like an elusive dream. There was just one last chance. A bone marrow transplant. Would a genetic match be available? In time? we applied to Ezer Mizion, the world’s largest Jewish bone marrow registry. Then we waited. We would be notified, we knew, but would it be good news or the ominous words: No Match Found?
My mother is here with us today because Yisrael, who joined Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry in the course of his induction to the IDF, was a perfect match and donated bone marrow to her thus saving her life.
We met Yisrael for the first time in April. About a month ago, we all attended his wedding with great joy and emotion.
He and Ezer Mizion gave us our Mother as a gift. May we someday be able to repay, even in some small way, the tremendous debt of appreciation we feel towards him and towards the organization
