Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 2019 Page: 4 of 16
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TEXAS JEWISH POST $ SINCE 1947
4 I January 24,2019
Gift of Life fosters marrow transplants
TEXAS JEWISH POST $ SINCE 1947
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color lit the peak of the Empire
State Building and Renaissance
Clock in Times Square, while the
Helmsley Building at 230 Park
---- Ave. glowed orange.
, Guests were greeted
WI by Gift of Life staff
member Lindsay Katz
and the table with swab
I kits. She explained the
simple directions of how
to join the registry by
downloading SwabApp,
completing a few forms
and doing a cheek swab. “When
I was 10, my 11-year-old cousin
went through this and responded
to medicine. I have been mvolved
with Gift of Life ever since,” she
said.
Isaac Zablocki, senior director
of film programs and the Israel
Eilm Center at the Marlene
Meyerson JCC Manhattan,
attended with his wife, Aviva, to
witness his 6-year-old nephew,
Idan, as he met his donor, Alex, for
the first time. “I am prepared with
tissues,” revealed Aviva Zablocki
during the cocktail reception.
Giant screens m the orange-
decorated room in Cipriani, the
famed restaurant in the equally
famous Bowery Building (built in
1921), displayed stories of donors
and recipients, including “Peter
met his recipient Etty at a Taglit
Birthright convention in Tel Aviv”
and “David met his recipient
Missy at Steps for Life 5K in South
Florida.”
Each speaker movingly
described his or her connection
to Gift of Life, often quoting
the well-known passage in the
Talmud that states, “He who saves
a single life, it is as if he has saved
an entire world.”
Miriam Adelson first learned
this verse as a student in Haifa
and recited it in Hebrew. “I am
an emergency-room doctor, and
we save lives every day. With just
a swab, we can all save lives!”
Her husband, Sheldon Adelson,
echoed, “I have been in business
for 73 years, but I can’t think of
anything more important than
saving a life. When I look at all
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Allston, Massachusetts, a research
associate at the Massachusetts
Institute for Technology’s
Initiative on the Digital Economy.
The two noted that they lived just
20 minutes from each other in
Massachusetts. Benzell also joined
Gift of Life during a Birthright
trip.
The Adelson
Foundation has
thousands of new donors to join
the registry through Birthright
Israel, resulting in more than
1,600 potential matches that
have led to 209 transplants so
far. Thomas Stern, chairman of
the board of the Birthright Israel
Foundation, noted that Benzell is
“No. 200” - the 200th Birthright
participant out of 214 who have
thus far donated marrow to people
with blood cancer.
“We will do 25,000 swabs
this year out of our 50,000
participants. We could do 100
percent if we had an extra $1.5
million annually,” Stern declared.
Gift of Life’s expansion plans
include relocating to a new
larger headquarters in Boca
Raton, Florida. The new offices
will include an on-premises
stem cell collection center. The
organization recently opened an
office in Jerusalem to support
its collaboration with Birthright
Israel. Efforts also continue to
expand the registry for currently
underrepresented populations.
By Howard Blas
(JNS) — When Jay
Feinberg learned in 1991
that he had leukemia, he
was told that he needed a
bone-marrow transplant
to survive. “My doctor
said, ‘You will never
find a match. Make your
bucket list now.’”
Feinberg, 22 at the time, was
in shock and disbelief. “When I
asked why, he said, ‘Because you
are Jewish, and the best chances of
a match are people with the same
genetic background.’” There were
no family members who were
potential matches and, at the time,
Jews were not well-represented
among potential donors.
“I wasn’t prepared to give
up,” he said. Feinberg, his family
and their circle of friends were
fighters. “I found a donor, the last
one tested after four years.”
Feinberg survived the
harrowing journey, remains in
good health and has devoted his
life to helping create “The Gift
of Life Marrow Registry,” which
seeks to educate people about
blood cancers and to increase
the numbers of Jews and people
in general around the world to
bone-marrow registries. By 1995,
more than 60,000 people had been
tested. Currently, 310,833 people
are registered donors; 15,409
matches have been made; and, to
date, some 3,321 transplants have
been facilitated.
Feinberg, who serves as
president and CEO of Gift of Life,
reports that “we went from less
than a 5 percent chance of a match
to a 75 percent chance of a match
for Jewish patients.”
The Oct. 10 Gift of Life Gala
raised $9.5 million and honored
Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson
with the Partners for Life Award. It
was an emotional affair, featuring
a swab table, and moving stories
of donors and recipients. To mark
the gala, Gift of Life’s orange brand
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Photos: Gift of Life Marrow Registry
Artist's rendering of the new location of the Gift of Life Foundation in Boca Raton, Florida
of the philanthropic gifts that we
make, I can’t see anything more
important than the gift of life.”
While the crowd was inspired
by the Adelsons’ commitment
and philanthropic generosity, the
true heroes of the evening were
the donors and recipients. Idan,
of New York City, who battled
the potentially fatal immune
deficiency Hyper IgM Syndrome
(Hyper IgM), met his stem cell
donor, 22-year-old Alex Weiss,
a New York financial analyst
originally from Fort Lauderdale,
Florida.
Weiss joined Gift of Life during
a Birthright Israel trip. “The
process has helped me realize how
precious life is and how incredibly
important it is to do mitzvot for
others,” said Weiss upon meeting
Zablocki. “I am so excited to
meet my recipient, Idan. To my
new little buddy, we will always
be connected through DNA, and
you will be always be connected
through my heart.”
Weiss presented Zablocki
with a jersey from University of
Michigan, his alma mater and
a teddy bear. He also made a
donation to Gift of Life.
Psychologist Jon E. Perlman,
69, received his diagnosis just
before Passover, referring to it
as “the 11th plague.” Perlman,
who battled acute myeloid
leukemia, met his stem cell
donor, Seth Benzell, 27, of
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Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 2019, newspaper, January 24, 2019; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305674/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .