Gift of Life
Making Miracles Together
What better way for Birthright alums to celebrate the blessing of the Jewish Sabbath together than to perform the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh (helping to save a life)? With a moment of your time and a swab of your cheek, your Shabbat dinner can provide participants with the opportunity to join the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry as potential donors, giving hope to countless children and adults suffering from leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers and genetic diseases in urgent need of transplants.
Registry membership is the perfect way for alums to give a gift in return for the gift of their memorable trips to Israel! It is also a great way to make a Sabbath dinner all the more rewarding and meaningful. Please contact Shayne Pilpel at 561.982.2944 or spilpel@giftoflife.org for more information.
In Abby Pelcyger’s 2007 Partners for Gala Speech, she tells about when she met her Recipient for the very first time: “I first heard about bone marrow donation when, in college, my friend Stefan was a donor. He saved the life of an eight-year-old boy, and went to Disney World with the boy and his family. I thought it was pretty cool - the Disney World part, and absolutely amazing – the saving a life part.
“So, four years later, when I was on Birthright Israel and someone asked me if I would like to join the Gift of Life bone marrow registry, I said ‘Yes.’ On October 3rd of 2005, I knew I was a match. That morning I went to Lab Corps to get my confirmatory testing to verify that I was a match, and I knew I wouldn't officially hear back for four weeks. But on the evening of October 3rd as I was on my way to my cousin's house for Erev Rosh Hashana, I had my first car accident. My car was totaled, the air bags deployed. But I did not have a single scratch. And the first, and only, thought running through my head was, ‘G-d saved me so that I can save this little boy.’ I knew being a donor was a big deal, and so I waited for my life to get hard. Instead, it made my life easier.
“I was in my first year of teaching, and trying to keep my head above the water. When I found out I was a match, it put my entire life into perspective because nothing mattered as much as staying healthy so I could give. I kept waiting for it to get hard. Gift of Life held my hand throughout the process. They even flew someone to New York to literally hold my hand in the hospital. My assigned Gift of Lifer answered all of my questions, walked me to the hospital, and waited in all of the hospital lines for me. The doctors did the rest. My mom, who supported my decision from day 1, took care of me for a week-and-a-half while I recovered - thanks Mom, and then I went back to my normal life.
Being a donor never got hard. Instead, it enriched my life. All I had to do was say ‘Yes,’ and G-d, the doctors, and Gift of Life took care of the rest. I feel incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity to be part of something so much bigger than myself. Being a donor has taught me that, sometimes, simply saying ‘Yes’ is enough to save a life.”
