Standing onstage at the Partners for Life gala and meeting Richard, the recipient of my blood stem cells for the first time was truly a humbling experience! It is hard to believe that in such brief span of time so many seemingly insignificant steps came together to become an awesome reality- a reality that is the fantastic miracle we all witnessed together. When we consider just how many things had to go right for this to happen, we have to also remember that it is our creator who coordinates and runs our world from the greatest to the most minute detail.
A few years ago, the Nierenberg family partnered with Gift of Life and the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) to run a donor drive in the hopes of finding a match for their brother-in-law, Barry Mishkin (A”VS). My entire family went and got tested. Unfortunately, The Nierenbergs suffered the loss of their brother-in-law, but amazingly, many other matches including mine have been made from those efforts. It is in their merit that so many lives have been saved.
A few years later, with the donor drive long since forgotten, I received a phone call from Gift of Life. The woman on the other end said, “It’s your lucky day.” I remember asking “Did I win the lottery?” What I didn’t know then, but have learned since, is that I had won the biggest lottery imaginable!
After the transplant, we thankfully heard reports that Richard was making steps toward recovery. Months followed, with each report improving until we had heard the miraculous news that my partner in this amazing journey had made a complete recovery.
What I would like to share with G-d, with Richard and with everyone who is reading this, is my unending gratitude for allowing me to perform this most fantastic mitzvah. This past summer, my youngest daughter was 11 months old and became suddenly and severely ill. Medical statistics were grim as were the faces of her doctors. In the end, thank G-d, she made a miraculous and complete recovery. My mind and heart can only imagine that it was because of the outpouring of prayer, and what I was able to do for Richard and his family, that I was repaid with good health and fortune for mine.
There is a famous kuzari that says the Jewish nation is like an orchestra. Each person has their crucial part to play. As it applies to Gift of Life, there is of course, Jay Feinberg. None of this would be a reality without him. There are those who generously support Gift of Life, as well as the volunteers and staff, many of whom I have had the sincere pleasure of meeting. They are the real heroes! When the Jewish nation helps one another, whether in times of happiness or despair, together we play the most beautiful melody.
To my recipient Richard, I would like to say that I have thought about you often and prayed for your good health ever since the transplant. I hope that our meeting will be a final closure to a difficult time and a beginning to days filled with all of life’s blessings. As we say after completing the Torah and beginning anew, “Chazak Chazak Venitchaek”… Be strong… Be strong and may we be strengthened.
Most sincerely, I pray that G-d should take pride – real nachas in witnessing how his children love one another. “Kish eched bilev echad”! Like one man with one heart.
