It was her 20th birthday. She had planned to celebrate by going out of town. But Kaya changed her plans and saved a life instead. Upon her induction into the IDF at 18, she had registered with Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry, never dreaming that she, from among 700,000 fellow registrants, would ever be called.
But among the many calls of birthday wishes, she received one call that enabled her to ‘give birth’ to someone her own age, a cancer patient whose sole chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant.
“Of course, I changed my birthday plans and, no, it was not fun to receive injections in my lower back for four days and then spend six hours lying on my back while my stem cells were separated and prepared. But I was thrilled at receiving a birthday present that allowed me to be the giver of the ultimate gift: life itself. Giving bone marrow on my birthday is like giving new life. There is something very symbolic and inspiring about it. Now I can just hope that thanks to the donation, this young woman whom I don’t know will recover quickly and agree to meet me. As far as I’m concerned, a very special bond was formed between us, even though we have never yet met.”
