Twenty years ago, Gift of Life and Birthright Israel formed a partnership, encouraging young Jewish adults traveling to Israel to become blood stem cell and marrow donors. This collaboration helped to match donors with patients in desperate need of life-saving transplants.
On September 16, the two nonprofit organizations celebrated their 20-year collaboration, which has resulted in over 104,000 Birthright participants who joined the registry, 5,000 matches and 500 successful transplants. The celebration, held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, featured two emotional meetings between recipients and their donors.
One such pair was Jacob Isrow, 21, from West Hills, whose blood stem cells saved the life of 62-year-old Mark Josephson, a leukemia patient. Isrow participated in a Birthright trip in July 2022, when he joined the donor registry. Later that year, he received an unexpected phone call: He was a match.
Josephson, from New Jersey, was on a family trip to Florida in 2022 when he began feeling unwell. Initial diagnoses pointed to a respiratory infection, but after further tests, he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. His doctors informed him that he would need a stem cell transplant from a young donor to improve his chances of survival. On stage at the gala, the two met for the first time, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
“My doctors wanted a young, vibrant match – a 19-year-old surfer,” said Josephson. “We were hopeful we’d find a match, but never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d find exactly what the doctors wanted.” Josephson now considers Isrow part of his family. “I’m just so lucky and fortunate to be here right now,” he said, turning to Isrow. “You saved my life.”
Another reunion was between donor Jason Tornes, 24, a medical assistant from Dayton, Ohio and his recipient, 3-year-old Isla Kobernat, who suffered from severe combined immunodeficiency. Tornes joined the donor registry in 2022. A year later, he was identified as the perfect match for Isla.
Isla and her parents took the stage, with Isla cradled in her mother’s arms. The family was visibly emotional as they met the young man who saved their daughter’s life. “It’s such a special experience that comes at such a small cost to you compared to the impact you can have on another person’s life,” Tornes reflected.
Due to U.S. medical privacy laws, donors and recipients must wait at least a year before learning the identity of their matches, making these meetings all the more poignant.
A Jewish patient’s best chance of finding a genetic match comes from donors with a similar ethnic background. This makes the participation of thousands of young Jewish individuals, willing to become donors, all the more crucial.
Gift of Life was established in 1991 by Jay Feinberg. When he was first diagnosed with leukemia, doctors told him he would need a bone marrow transplant to survive but warned that he might die before finding a matching donor.
Unfortunately, the global donor registry did not adequately represent all ethnic groups, and as a Jewish individual, Feinberg faced an especially urgent challenge. There was a critical need to increase diversity in the registry, and time was running out.
Feinberg’s family and friends refused to accept that he might die needlessly. They launched an ambitious grassroots donor recruitment campaign, enrolling tens of thousands of new donors into the worldwide registry. However, after four years, they still could not find a match for Feinberg.
A May 1995 donor drive led to a miracle. The last donor tested turned out to be his perfect match. Feinberg received his life-saving transplant soon after at the renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, thanks to his miracle match, Becky.
The event’s keynote address was delivered by Dr. Miriam Adelson, who with her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, has donated approximately half a billion dollars to Birthright. The couple also played a key role in establishing the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life Collection Center at the organization’s headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.
