Ezer Mitzion held a national bone marrow drive on Wednesday
11 Kislev in the hopes of saving the lives of numerous cancer
patients.
Recently a meeting was arranged between bone marrow donors
and transplant recipients at Ezer Mitzion's Oranit Center.
Eight donor-recipient pairs took part in the emotional
occasion, held exactly one year after a bone-marrow donation
was successfully transplanted and accepted besiyata
deShmaya. Typically meetings between only a single pair
are held; only three meetings of multiple pairs have been
held in the past.
The Oranit Center staff made arrangements to host the donors
and recipients and their respective families. The recipients
waited eagerly in the foyer for the opportunity to personally
thank those who saved their lives. Among the recipients were
two young children from chareidi families.
The director of the national bone marrow pool, Dr. Bracha
Zisser, said that the aim of the combined meeting was to
increase public awareness of the importance of bone-marrow
donations. "Our goal is to make the [entire] population aware
that such a simple procedure as taking a blood sample saves
lives," she said. "If not for the bone marrow donation these
eight people would not be with us here today, alive and well,
chas vecholiloh."
Rabbi Yeshayohu Fried of Haifa recently met a Herzliya
resident to whom he donated bone marrow over a year ago.
Shortly before the meeting he described the unique feeling of
being able to save a Jewish life. "It's a tremendous
zchus for a person to bring to Beis Din Shel Maaloh
the fact that he helped another person recovery from this
disease." Even merely showing a willingness to help by
providing a blood sample is a great zchus and everyone
should make this effort, he added.
