Moral was just following the crowd. She had come to enlist in the army and saw others swabbing their cheek. She also did the same, not really understanding what she was signing up for. She had become a registrant for the Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Registry but, amid the tumult of induction, didn’t really understand what that meant.
It was only a few months later that she received a call from Ezer Mizion saying that she was a match for a cancer patient and asking if she would like to donate stem cells. Her reaction: ‘What?! I never signed up for that‘. But when she mentioned the call to others, they were aghast. “What an opportunity! To save someone’s life! Of course, you should do it!” And so bit by bit, she began to realize that this was real and very important. Ezer Mizion soon received a call retracting her earlier refusal.
She publicized her upcoming donation on a chat and was deluged with replies. “I never got so many good wishes, not even on my birthday!” Not only that but many other young people registered because of me. I’m beginning to understand how important this is.”
Talya was ten years old when her idyllic childhood came crashing down. Suddenly math tests and jump rope we no longer the center of her life. Talya had leukemia. The encouraging smiles of the oncology team began to fade when nothing they tried was working. “We’ll do a stem cell transplant. That will save your life. You’re Jewish. We’ll contact Ezer Mizion. They have 1.2 million Jewish people on their database. We’re sure there will be a genetic match for you,” they promised. But the doctors were anything but sure. Even 1.2 million may not be enough.
Talya was one of the over five thousand fortunate ones. Moral, who hadn’t even known what she was doing when she registered, was a perfect match. And now she sat in a comfortable recliner thinking of the person whose life she was saving. “This is the first time I’m so worked up about meeting someone I don’t even know. It’s the first time I feel so connected and love a girl I never even saw. Do you look like me? Do we have similar characteristics? What dreams do you have? Are you as anxious to meet me as I am to meet you?
A year and a half later, after Talya recovered from the leukemia, the two girls met for the first time on stage in Binyanei Ha’umah, at a special event for 3,000 Ezer Mizion volunteers.
Moral said to Talya tearfully, “First of all, I want to tell you that I’m so thrilled to see you. I can’t tell you how much I looked forward to this. I’m so happy.” Moral turned to the audience and said, “I want to say ‘Thank you’ to Ezer Mizion for giving me the privilege of saving a life.”
Dena, Talya’s mother, said: “In the midst of the nightmare, when we had almost given up hope, – suddenly, we were told that a matching donor had been found for her, it was the most exciting news in the world. Words cannot express how much I thank you for your amazing willingness to do this.”
