At eighteen, as he stood on the threshold of his IDF induction, Lior Shafir made a quiet but profound decision. He joined Ezer Mizion’s bone marrow registry, drawn by the simple yet powerful hope that one day he might save a life. Eight years later, that hope would circle back to him in ways he could never have imagined. Lior’s world shifted when his beloved mother, Adva, was diagnosed with cancer. The prognosis was grim. Last Rosh Hashanah, she lay in isolation in the hospital, her husband never leaving her side. Lior and his brother Aviv refused to be far. They found a place nearby at Ezer Mizion’s Oranit Cancer Patient Guest Home, a haven that allowed them to remain close. Through the appropriate precautions and distancing, they “sat” with their parents for the yom tov meals. They could not embrace their mother, but they could still reach her—with their voices, their smiles, their presence—and lift her spirits in those fragile days. Then came another moment of destiny. In the midst of the Epic Fury conflict, Lior received a call from Ezer Mizion. He was a match. Somewhere, someone’s life could be saved—by him. The call came at a time when his mother hovered in critical condition. Still, he agreed to move forward. An appointment was set for further testing. But life, in its painful unpredictability, intervened. Just days before the appointment, Adva passed away. The process had to be paused for shiva. Grief filled the space where hope had been. |
| Yet as soon as shiva ended, Lior returned. With quiet determination, he continued every step of the process. And on the day before his mother’s shloshim, he donated his stem cells – offering life at a time when he himself was mourning loss. “It means everything to me to stand on the giving side now,” Lior said. “Not long ago, my family and I were the ones receiving help from Ezer Mizion when my mother was sick. Donating stem cells to save someone’s life closes a circle for me. Especially because I’m doing this in memory of my mother, Adva bat Ora and Kalman.” Lior carries the ache of losing a parent, of losing a vibrant, loving mother far too soon. But within that loss, he has chosen to create something enduring. “I know this act is bringing her joy,” he said. He also reflected on the unseen chain of kindness that made his choice possible. Years earlier, the sponsorship of Renee and Susan Braginsky Donor Pool enabled his initial testing and entry into the registry, and Lior thanks them warmly for the privilege to give in such a special way. “It’s incredible,” Lior said, “how so many pieces come together, how people who may never meet become partners in saving a life.” And so, in the shadow of loss, Lior fulfilled a promise he made at eighteen, transforming grief into giving, and memory into life. |
