Hope found – hope lost
Last year Gift of Life Australia invited the Jewish Community to help save Ezra and Ayelet’s lives by joining the Aussie Stem cell registry ABMDR in order to find miracle matches for two very young patients…for one a miracle can still happen, for the other it is too late.
Ezra still with us and Ayelet who has passed away
Three-yr-old bright eyed Ezra Jordan Fineman has a rare hyper ImmunoGlobulin Syndrome and urgently needs a new immune system .
Over 100 potential donors were tested in Sydney and Melbourne, 200 in Israel and 1000 by Gift of Life in the USA.
Though 6 matches were found for others and led to transplants to save their lives, an almost perfect Cord Blood match has just been found for Ezra and at this very moment he is being transplanted with the cord blood cells at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and awaits a better matching donor to be found.
But for adorable two-yr-old Ayelet Yakira Galina diagnosed with la rare bone marrow disorder, it is now too late. She has lost her battle and sadly passed away last month. In her eulogy, her mother thanked everyone for their help and kind support and was proud that some other lives were saved as a result of the search for her brave Ayelet’s , z”l match !
The Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry tells us that there are currently a number of Jewish Leukemia patients worldwide in need of a Bone Marrow/ Stem Cell transplant and that their likelihood of finding a match is highest within the Jewish community even then the probability is only 1 in 10 000 !
Joining the Registry consists of completing the Australian Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donor Registry forms and the Red Cross medical questionnaire and giving a 2 teaspoon sample of blood or whilst donating blood at any Red Cross Centre , ask to join Registry at the very same time though an appointment is necessary.
An appointment for testing in Sydney on Sunday mornings at Wolper Jewish Hospital can be made by calling Shula 0414 780 444 ,[email protected].
A special testing session has been set up in East St Kilda on Tuesday 31 July 3.30-7.30pm ,also by appointment [Yehuda 0425 724 314, [email protected]].
You need to be healthy, 18-45 years old and willing to give hope and save a life .
For further information call Shula Endrey-Walder OAM, Founder Gift of Life Australia on 0414 780 444.
