14-week old baby facing death without bone marrow match
A baby girl is lying in an Israeli hospital facing certain death unless a bone marrow donor can be found to save her life.
Shula Endrey-Walder
Both parents and her entire family have been tested but do not match the marrow needed to save the little girl. The child was born with a rare condition which sees her bone marrow lying dormant… incapable of reproducing itself to ensure a healthy life.
The Gift of Life’s Shula Endrey-Walder told J-Wire: “Without a suitable match, the baby will not see her first birthday. She can not produce healthy blood cells.”
There are also currently three other Jewish patients including a Rabbi’s son in urgent need of a stem cell match to save their lives.
We know that there are still approximately 15 000 Jews in NSW between the ages of 18-50 years who have never heard about this life saving issue and would join the register as unrelated potential donors if only they were aware of it.
Because DNA is inherited, the likelihood of finding a match is highest within one’s own ethnic community, even so the likelihood of finding an unrelated match is only 1 in 50 000 but lives can be saved ! The Jewish community however, is under represented on the Australian and International Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donor Registries.
Anyone can at any time join the registry whilst donating blood at any Red Cross Blood Services Centre or they can be tested by having a two teaspoon blood sample taken at Wolper Hospital Woollahra on any Sunday morning.
A special testing session has been set up for this coming Sunday 14 March at the Jewish Learning Centre-JLC at 60C Blair Street corner Mitchell Street, North Bondi.
