More than 60,000 people turned out Wednesday to add their names to the bone marrow donors registry as part of a drive organized by Ezer Mitzion along with the Kadosh and Nevo families. The Kadosh family helped organize the registration drive in hopes of finding a donor for their daughter, six-year-old Amit, who suffers leukemia and needs a transplant.
Three-year-old Dan-Dan Nevo and Amit featured in ads asking Israelis to come register as donors. Organizers hope the drive will help other patients in need as well.
In order to register, potential bone marrow donors give a simple blood test. If their blood proves their marrow is compatible with that of a cancer patient in need of a transplant, they will be asked to give marrow in a simple, non-surgical procedure.
Wednesday's drive was the largest mass registration for the marrow donor list in Israel's history, organizers said. The previous largest mass registration brought in roughly 30,000 new potential donors.
By the time the drive began at 8 a.m., many were waiting to give blood samples, volunteers reported. In some locations hundreds waited in line to be tested. Volunteers were forced to turn away some who did not meet the recommended donor age range of 18-50.
The drive cost approximately 11 million shekels, all of which was donated. Doctors urged the public to continue donating in order to fund the addition of more potential donors to the registry. Each test to determine marrow type costs 180 shekels.
"This was an unprecedented operation,” said. Dr. Bracha Zisser of Ezer Mitzion, the health organization that coordinated the drive. The new blood samples arrived in laboratories on Thursday. Technicians will determine each registrant's marrow type within two months, Zisser said.
Ezer Mitzion runs Israel's bone marrow registry, which is the largest Jewish registry worldwide and the fourth largest registry. The registry currently contains more than 401,000 potential donors, a number that will soon shoot up to 461,000 as the latest donors are added to the list.