Stories

Bone Marrow Donor & Recipient Reunite at Panthers Game

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

At the time, Zak Blumer had no idea that he was saving a life. While attending Ohio University, the 23-year-old just happened to stop by an event that his twin brother's fraternity was hosting in conjunction with the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. The organization was on campus looking for potential donors and, since he had some free time, he thought, why not? "It was just a quick cheek swab, so of course I did it," Blumer said.

Giving Tuesday Asks That We Look Beyond Our Own Horizons

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

One of the philanthropists I am privileged to know is Jay Feinberg; he was a 22-year-old foreign exchange analyst in 1991 when he was diagnosed with leukemia and told that his survival depended on a bone marrow transplant. When no close matches were found among relatives, his family and friends — and Hadassah — launched a drive to register potential donors, identifying dozens of matches for other patients before they finally found one for Jay.

Chicago Jewish Woman Saves Life of Young Boy

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

A simple cheek swab collected at a Chicago Jewish donor drive saved the life of a baby who was battling an inherited immune symptom disorder until his transplant. Brooke Dordek, a then 34-year-old mother of two and special needs teacher at Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov Elementary School, proved to be an exact tissue type match to two-year-old Sebastian Martinez of California who desperately needed a stem cell donation.

'I want to hug him and never let go': Family meets donor who saved son's life

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

A toddler in Bolivia was suffering from a disease his only two brothers had already died of. This week, Nicholas Torrico and his family met the man who saved his life.

Redding woman donates bone marrow, saves life of a father

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

A 25-year-old Redding, Connecticut woman meets the Arizona man who was battling deadly Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) until she saved his life by donating her bone marrow. Jennie Bunce joined Gift of Life Marrow Registry through a sorority swab drive at North Carolina’s High Point University in 2016.

Perfect match: How Birthright alumni saved the lives of 100s of strangers

Nov 2019 MEDIA COVERAGE

In August 2013, Jeffrey Altadonna, who was on a Birthright trip, was tested at a swab drive to recruit new registry members to become potential bone marrow or stem cell transplant matches at the Jerusalem Gate Hotel. Nearly five years to the day since he was tested, he was matched to a perfect stranger who needed his life-saving blood stem cells.