Orthodox Community Hosts Bone Marrow Donor Drive

A simple swab inside your cheeks can save someone’s life. That’s not hyperbole but is actually the basis of a bone marrow donor recruitment drive held in person at Congregation Beth Jacob and Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael in late July and continuing online, especially targeting the Jewish community.

Some 30 individuals came to the two Orthodox institutions to offer swab samples to determine whether they could be a match for a New Yorker who was diagnosed with Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia and needs a blood stem cell transplant.

Family friend Leah Lewis, who lives part of the year in Toco Hills and the rest in Jerusalem, helped organize the drive with the help of Gift of Life Marrow Registry, a nonprofit that cures patients battling blood cancer, sickle cell and other life-threatening diseases by providing donors for marrow and stem cell transplants.

Lewis’ New Yorker friend Shlomo — who wants to remain anonymous — was diagnosed last summer with the cancer that starts in the bone marrow and then moves to the blood. His son Daniel was a partial match and donated stem cells to his father last November, but the cancer returned, necessitating community drives around the country.

“We’ve had a tremendous response from Jewish communities in Atlanta and other cities in New York and New Jersey who are stepping up to swab for Shlomo,” said Edwige Buteau, a spokesman for the registry, based in Boca Raton, Fla. “Because of COVID and the increased risk posed by the Delta variant, we’ve shifted the majority of our donor recruitment efforts to online to ensure the safety of attendees and the coordinators of the drives. We’re urging anyone 18 to 35 years old who is in good health (the ideal demographic for successful transplants) to join by requesting a swab kit to be delivered when they visit giftoflife.org/Shlomo.

“Joining the registry is simple: Donors simply swab the inside of their cheeks using the swab kit and complete a registration questionnaire and mail it back to Gift of Life.”

Referring to Atlanta, Lewis said, “our community is very giving in general and very caring.” So she was heartened by the response to the community drive here, she said. But she is eager for more people and Jewish organizations to get involved.

According to the registry, because of similar genetic ancestry, Shlomo’s perfect match would most likely be found in the Ashkenazi community.

“We were created to combat the lack of diversity in the worldwide registries when our founder and CEO Jay Feinberg couldn’t find a match 30 years ago,” Buteau said.

“In 1991, Jay was diagnosed with leukemia and told, at the age of 22, that his chances of finding a matching donor for the transplant that could save him were slim because of his Ashkenazi genetic heritage. Jay and his family learned that the best chance of finding a donor was with people who shared the same ethnicity and race. However, the worldwide donor registry was not diverse, likening the search for Jay and many others to looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Jay’s family would not take no for an answer, so they organized an international grassroots campaign to find his donor. Over 60,000 people were tested and joined the registry, providing matches for hundreds of other patients — but not Jay. As his health was failing, one final drive was held, and the last person tested turned out to be his match. He received a successful transplant and decided to dedicate his life to help others, so no one has to search for years — or worse, unsuccessfully — to find their donor,” Buteau said.

Shlomo’s cancer was found in a routine doctor’s visit, his son Daniel said. “Even if I can’t find someone for my father” through the drive, “then maybe a match can be found for someone else’s father. That’s my goal.” He has helped organize drives in his New York community with three more planned in the area.

“After I donated to my father, I emailed the Gift of Life and said I wanted to do a drive. Gift of Life has been such a fantastic resource,” Daniel said.

Lewis spoke along the same lines. “Even if your bone marrow can’t help Shlomo, it might save someone else’s life. It’s not a blood test. You just swab yourself and you’re not committing yourself to the procedure.”

She acknowledged that the procedure of actually providing bone marrow is painful, “but it’s short-term pain and they give you medication. It’s not like you’re giving up a kidney,” said the long-time friend of Shlomo’s family.

“Just think of it as your child, sister or your parent,” Lewis said. “Aren’t we all brothers and sisters?”