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11 Nissan 5761 - April 4, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Bone Marrow Data Registry Bringing Hope to Cancer Patients this Pesach
by Linda Feinberg

When some 32,000 Israelis turned out to donate a blood sample to the Ezer Mizion Data Registry last February, it wasn't just Israeli cancer patients who were given new hope. During the last few weeks the registry has received more than 100 search requests from 12 of the largest cancer hospitals and centers in the United States, who are also hoping that some of the Israeli donors will be matches for their cancer patients.

The rapid growth of the data registry from just 5,000 donors in 1998 to more than 90,000 donors today, and its high standards of testing, have garnered international recognition for the registry. But while the accolades are nice, the staff remains focused on its main job: finding potential matching donors for cancer patients.

That job isn't always easy. Although much of the work involves sitting in front of a computer and sifting through databases, because of what is at stake -- a person's life -- the job often has all the emotional ups and downs of a gigantic roller coaster ride.

Such was the case this past month.

A Time To Give

Everyone recognizes the importance of donating a blood sample to a bone marrow data registry, but people are often so busy that they may not take the time to go to a center to give. However, seeing the picture or reading about the story of a real cancer patient can galvanize the public to put donating a sample on the top of the to-do list.

That happened six weeks ago, when the Israeli public was so touched by the plight of 4-year-old Naama Bitoun -- whose last chance at life is a bone marrow transplant -- that some 32,000 people practically stormed the 40 mobile blood donor centers in their eagerness to donate a blood sample and help save her life.

However, Naama is not the only Jew in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Some 75 children and 25 adults suffering from leukemia were also eagerly awaiting news of the drive's results, including Alon Nitchiko, a 25- year-old from Yerushalayim who has had cancer for eight years.

Although the odds of finding a match between a potential donor and a cancer patient are only about 1 in 30,000, this past month Ezer Mizion hit the jackpot twice: preliminary testing of the samples found potential donors for both Naama and Alon.

When the computer turns up a potential matching donor, the next step is for an Ezer Mizion staff member to phone the donor's home to see if he is, indeed, committed to continuing with the process. If the answer is yes, the potential donor has to come in for additional testing to confirm that he is a suitable match. If he passes this second test, he then has to agree to undergo the actual bone marrow transfer procedure, which is painless but can take up to two days to complete.

"Most potential donors are thrilled when they get the phone call," comments Ofra Konikoff, the registry's donor coordinator. "They're so excited about having the opportunity to help save another person's life that all they want to know is where they have to go and when they have to be there."

Such was the case with the potential donor for Alon. But for Naama's potential donor it was a very different story.

When the staff member phoned the home of the potential donor, who was a young man, his father answered the phone.

"We told the father why we were calling," says Konikoff, "and there was a long silence. Then the father told us that although he was sure his son would have liked to help, he could not. His son was a soldier, and he had been killed in a terrorist incident the week before."

According to Dr. Bracha Zisser, Director of the Registry, the news came as a double blow to the staff members.

"Everyone was really hoping we would find a matching donor for Naama," she says, "just as we root for all our cancer patients, and once we find a potential donor that person immediately becomes a part of the Ezer Mizion family. Although we didn't have a chance to meet the young man who could have saved Naama's life, we really felt that we had lost one of our own.

"We're often not aware of how deeply connected we are to one another," she continues, "but this experience really shows how important every individual member of Klal Yisroel is to us all."

Answering The Call

The Bone Marrow Data Registry staff knows they cannot dwell on this sadness, for there are many other Jewish children and adults throughout the world who are depending on Ezer Mizion to give them a second chance at life. Already the registry has found 15 matching donors for Jewish cancer patients, and that number may soon significantly increase.

From the additional 32,000 blood samples that were added to the registry in February, they have found potential donors for cancer patients receiving treatment at Boston-Dana Ferber, City of Hope, Sloan Kettering and Crir. Still in the search process are dozens of requests from hospitals and cancer centers such as Fred Hutchinson, Texas, Wisconsin, Stanford, Hackensack, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Virginia and Gift of Life.

The Ezer Mizion registry was also contacted two weeks ago by The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), located in Minneapolis, MN, about joining NMDP's network of international affiliates. Since NMDP is the international leader in the field of unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants, it is quite an honor to become affiliated with the organization.

"NMDP has very strict standards," comments Dr. Zisser, "so the fact that they have shown an interest in our data registry confirms that we are doing our job well."

According to research conducted by NMDP, approximately 40 percent of the bone marrow transplants they have facilitated have involved matches between a U.S. patient and an international donor or an international patient being matched with a U.S. donor.

Such results do not surprise Dr. Zisser, who has claimed from the beginning that the Ezer Mizion registry is a life- saving resource not only for Israelis, but also for the entire Jewish people.

"When matching potential donors with cancer patients," she says, "what's important is their genetic similarities, and not their geographic differences. Two Jews whose families came from the same village one hundred years ago have a better chance of being matches than two Jews who are next- door neighbors today but come from very different regions.

"That's why every Jew, no matter where he lives, should feel he has a stake in the Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Data Registry," she continues. "We're here for everyone in the event that, chas vesholom, they should need us."

Time is of the Essence

Despite the fact that many Israeli organizations are beginning to slow down their activities during these last few weeks before Pesach, the staff members of the registry are still working at full-force to find matching donors for the more than 100 requests they have received this month.

"Although we, too, have cleaning and shopping to do," says Konikoff, "we know that with cancer, time is of the essence. Behind every one of those requests is a person, someone like Naama, who is praying that he or she will be redeemed this Pesach -- that they will be freed from the bondage of their illness and once again experience the freedom of good health. So now, especially, we all want to do everything we can to help."

 

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