When the Ezer Mizion organization asked New York area residents to come to the Jakob K. Javits Center last Chanukah and donate a blood sample to the organization?s bone marrow data registry, several thousand people heeded the call. This week Ezer Mizion announced that one of those people will be able to give a belated Chanukah present to an Israeli cancer patient ?the chance to receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
The December donor drive was the first time that the Israel-based Ezer Mizion data registry participated in the World Jewish Expo, which is held bi-annually at Manhattan?s Jakob K. Javits Center. But according to Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of the data registry, this is just the beginning of a partnership between Ezer Mizion and the American Jewish community in the fight against cancer.
?The American Jewish community can contribute tremendously to our effort to find matching donors for Jewish cancer patients,? comments Dr. Zisser. ?Once the community understands how easy it is to become a bone marrow donor - and help save another person?s life - I?m sure that even more people will want to be a part of the data registry.?
Since the bone marrow data registry was established in 1998, the number ofits donors has skyrocketed from just 5,000 to more than 90,000. While the vast majority of donors live in Israel, where Ezer Mizion conducts several donor drives during the year, the organization has recently begun to sponsor drives in North America and Europe, as well.
The result is that as the number of donors increases, so do the number of matches. To date, the data registry has found 18 matches between donors and cancer patients, which is considered to be an impressive success rate. In addition to the match that was recently found between the New York-area woman and an Israeli cancer patient, another match was found this month between a French Jew, who had participated in an Ezer Mizion donor drive held in Paris, and a cancer patient living in England. Last month a matching donor was found for an Israeli soldier.
The December donor drive was the first time that the Israel-based Ezer Mizion data registry participated in the World Jewish Expo, which is held bi-annually at Manhattan?s Jakob K. Javits Center. But according to Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of the data registry, this is just the beginning of a partnership between Ezer Mizion and the American Jewish community in the fight against cancer.
?The American Jewish community can contribute tremendously to our effort to find matching donors for Jewish cancer patients,? comments Dr. Zisser. ?Once the community understands how easy it is to become a bone marrow donor - and help save another person?s life - I?m sure that even more people will want to be a part of the data registry.?
Since the bone marrow data registry was established in 1998, the number ofits donors has skyrocketed from just 5,000 to more than 90,000. While the vast majority of donors live in Israel, where Ezer Mizion conducts several donor drives during the year, the organization has recently begun to sponsor drives in North America and Europe, as well.
The result is that as the number of donors increases, so do the number of matches. To date, the data registry has found 18 matches between donors and cancer patients, which is considered to be an impressive success rate. In addition to the match that was recently found between the New York-area woman and an Israeli cancer patient, another match was found this month between a French Jew, who had participated in an Ezer Mizion donor drive held in Paris, and a cancer patient living in England. Last month a matching donor was found for an Israeli soldier.