Ezra celebrated his 3rd birthday on March 8th.  As he blew out the candles, his parents Robin and Evan wished for a bone marrow donor for their little boy.  Ezra has been diagnosed with Hyper IgM Syndrome, a rare primary immune deficiency that prohibits his body from producing enough infection-fighting antibodies to ward off illnesses.  He needs a functioning immune system and the only cure is a bone marrow transplant.  Gift of Life has been working with Ezra and his family for over a year and a half to find Ezra’s miracle match. In honor of Ezra’s 3rd birthday, Gift of Life is giving you 3 ways to help find Ezra’s donor.

1) Support the 3 for 3 Campaign
The Maccabeats, a hit a capella group, launched the 3 for 3 Campaign in honor of Ezra’s birthday.  In addition to singing him a very special Happy Birthday song, they dedicated a website to finding his match. The Maccabeats have already played a huge part in finding matches for other patients in need.  In fact, funds raised from their Make Some Miracles Campaign, which launched in December, added more than 1,300 new donors to the bone marrow registry and has already found 3 matches for patients in need! 

Supporting the 3 for 3 Campaign is easy! Visit the Happy Birthday Ezra website, share the campaign with your friends on Facebook by posting it to your wall, tweet a message about it to your Twitter followers, and donate at least $3. We are hoping that your support will not only spread the word about Ezra’s need for a match, but will play a vital part in processing more kits off our waitlist, one of which could save his life.

2) Join the Help4Ezra Donor Circle
The Gift of Life Donor Circle is a social networking system that gives you a way to provide charitable support that is measurable, personalized and impactful. Each team page tracks the circle’s activity in real time, including the number of donors sponsored, matches made, and transplants facilitated.

The Help4Ezra Donor Circle began when Ezra’s parents learned their son would need to find a matching donor for a bone marrow transplant.  Ezra’s circle has raised more than $208,000! This money has been used to sponsor donors from Gift of Life’s waitlist into the worldwide bone marrow donor registry. Since each kit costs $54 to process, that means 3,700 donors have been added to the registry because of the Help4Ezra donor circle!  So far, Ezra’s search has resulted in a donor, originally tested for Ezra, saving the life of a 64 year old female and an additional 23 matches found for other patients in need. Join the Help4Ezra circle to learn more about Ezra, sponsor a new donor who may be a match for Ezra, and learn about the other patients who have been helped.

3) Register as a donor
Last week on the Gift of Life blog we shared “10 Great Reasons Why You Should Join the Bone Marrow Registry”. Here’s another reason to join: Ezra’s miracle match may not be on our waitlist, his match might be you! The only way you will discover whether or not you are his match is by joining the registry.

You can register online; our recruitment team will mail a swab kit to your home and once you’re finished swabbing your cheeks, you mail the kit right back to us! You can also register by attending one of our local donor drives. Be sure to check our events calendar frequently so you don’t miss an event in your area!

Happy Birthday Ezra! We hope you find your miracle match this year! For more information on how you can help Ezra, please visit his donor circle.