Airports are busy places. People are traveling from the country they reside in to countries around the globe. Or they are coming home from their travels. Rare is the passenger who is doing both. Both? Yes, both: traveling to a long anticipated vacation to far off Peru and in a tiny slice of time traveling home again. You’re puzzled and confused? Not as confused as Omer must have been feeling when the phone call came in.
She had planned this trip to Peru for weeks. Her notebook was with her 24/7 to jot down yet one more task that needed to be addressed, one more question for the travel agent, one more item to be purchased. And then the day arrived. Everything seemed under control and she was looking forward to the trip of a lifetime. Until, just barely into covering her lists of sights to see, her phone rang.
Let’s back up a bit in Omer’s life. Some time ago, she, like over one million of others, had registered in Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Registry. Registration just took a few minutes and she promptly forgot about it, never expecting to be called. But she was called. About six months ago, she was notified that a young girl was in need of a stem cell transplant to save her life. And she was the only known genetic match. Would she agree to donate?
The procedure was simple and a small bag of cells was soon ready to be sent to the patient where she and her family waited in trepidation. With her stem cells, Omer sent along a prayer that the procedure would be successful and, since that day, “her” child was never out of her mind. She worried about her as she was drifting off to sleep. She thought of her often as she was enjoying a fun day, hoping that “her” child was also healthy enough to enjoy a fun day. And so it went until her phone rang and the voice at the other end told her that another transplant was needed. Now.
Exotic Peru… Itinerary… Weeks of planning… All forgotten. Her trip had just begun but it no longer mattered to her. All she could think of was home. Home as fast as she could get there. Home to save “her” child. Within four hours, she was back at the airport that she had just recently left. On a life-saving mission. Not until the second transplant was completed did she resume her dream trip.
Omer, you’re only twenty-four years old but you have much to teach those much older than you. About priorities, About living the high road. About the reason we are here in this world. Omer, we are so very proud of you!
Over 5,000 lives, 496 in 2023 alone, have already been saved by Ezer Mizion’s International Bone Marrow Registry, the largest Jewish registry worldwide. But for too many, the response is No Match Found, a virtual death sentence. It is your gifts that are helping to enlarger the registry so that we are getting closer to the goal of every single request receiving a triumphant, positive response.
