Jewish Bone Marrow Registry

Remember doing Connect the Dots when you were a kid? If you did it correctly, you were rewarded with a picture. As adults, we sometimes are also called on to connect the dots but the reward is so much greater. Sometime it can be saving a life!

Here we are at #1, the starting point: a hospital in Israel. We have a cancer patient whose only chance to survive is a stem cell transplant. He needs stem cells from a donor whose DNA matches his. Very hard to find but we think we have one. We just have to do some further testing. Problem. The lab is in Petach Tikvah, Israel. The donor is in Germany. Give up? Of course not! With caring contacts everywhere, Ezer Mizion began to ‘follow the numbers’.
2. We asked Yossi Beinhacker, VP of the Rabbinical Center of Europe if he has any contact in Germany who would be willing to help.
3. Lord Shmuel Aharon Brodman, rabbi of a community in Munich was his choice
4. Lord Shmuel Aharon Brodman put us in touch with Dr. Brown who was happy to draw blood
5. Ezer Mizion immense Linked to Life (a whatsapp network) was alerted to find a volunteer to take the test tubes from Germany to Israel
6. Gadi Cohen answered the call. He will be traveling from Germany to Tel Aviv and will be thrilled to take the test tubes with him but he will not be anywhere near Petach Tikva where they are needed.
7. Second volunteer will be traveling from Tel Aviv to Petach Tikvah. Picture completed! Another Ezer Mizion success story.

More than one life per day is saved by the Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Registry. Many of these are young parents battling cancer who had been terrified at leaving their children to grow up as orphans. Others are small children who will now mature and raise families of their own. Genetic testing is expensive and it is your generosity that has enabled Ezer Mizion to facilitate stem cell transplants, thus saving so many lives around the globe.

Swabbing for Miri

A bone marrow transplant can save the life of eight year old Miri

She is only eight years old. Her parent try to smile when she talks of what she wants to be when she grows up. But it’s so hard. You see, Miri is not well and only a bone marrow transplant can save her life. To be successful, a genetically matching donor must be found. With the transplant, Miri will someday become a Mommy. Her children will, in turn, mature and produce grandchildren for Miri – generations…eternity. But without the transplant, …

Ezer Mizion, the largest Jewish registry worldwide has saved the lives of so many cancer patients around the globe. A drive was recently held in NY and NJ where thousands made their way, in the rain, in the cold, to the Ezer Mizion stations in order to ‘Swab for Miri’. As the drive progressed, Ezer Mizion received requests from more precious members of the Jewish nation – two in Flatbush, two in Lakewood, one in Buffalo – who were desperately waiting in hope and prayer for the genetic match that will mean Life.

Jews rallied. Busy mothers maneuvering the crowds with double strollers. Fathers trekking to the stations late at night after Evening Prayers. In twos and in threes. Another and another and another. Thousands! Closing time came and went, virtually ignored. How could we close when more people, so very tired after a long day, were detouring away from a relaxing cup of coffee in a warm home? Instead they were heading toward the still bustling stations to save the life of another!

A woman arrived with two babies in tow. “I never go anywhere,” she told us. “No weddings, no shopping. Nothing. I have a cancer patient at home. I don’t even have the time for basic housework. But for this? To help save a life? For this I just had to come!” “Yes!” we thought to ourselves. “You really understand. The pain. The fear. That tiny glimmer of hope that, at times, seems all but extinguished. A dying spark until Ezer Mizion arrives to fan it into a flame of faith.

Founded in 1998, Ezer Mizion’s International Bone Marrow Registry, is the largest Jewish registry worldwide and has saved the lives of 4,293 patients whose sole chance of survival had been a transplant. Three hundred and ninety-four lives were saved in 2021 alone, more than one per day! Several years ago, Ezer Mizion opened its Stem Cell Harvesting Center, one of the first centers in the world to operate outside a hospital. A full medical staff operates at the Center, including a doctor, nurses, medical technicians, and a Clinic Director, operating according to the strict guidelines and regulations of World Marrow Donors Association (WMDA), which guarantee the quality of the stem cells and ensure the highest standards of performance.

The Registry now numbers 1,130,526 potential donors ready and anxious to donate their stem cells to save a life. It is our fervent prayer that among the many new swabs taken, some will emerge to be perfect match for each of these Yidden and all those around the globe for whom a transplant will mean a Future.

To view heartwarming video of transplants entitled Nothing in Your Life: www.ezermizion.org