Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation reached a milestone, in the celebration of its tenth annual Partners for Life Gala, on Thursday, May 6th at the Grand Hyatt New York.  With nearly 700 people in attendance, including over 100 transplant survivors and bone marrow donors, as well as family, friends, volunteers and supporters, the event was both emotional and moving.  The highlight of this extraordinary and unique event was the introduction onstage of three transplant survivors to the strangers who saved their lives, their selfless bone marrow donors, for the first time.  The three pairs were Jacie, from Ottawa, Canada and his donor, Sam of East Brunswick, NJ; four year old Daisy from Houston, TX and her donor Lillian  from San Francisco, CA; and Erik of New York City, NY and his donor Sam, also from New York, NY. Lillian said of her experience, “When given the ability to save a person's life, you take it. I never second guessed what I did, but meeting Daisy and her parents, and seeing how much life and love they have is priceless.”

 

Josh Flagg, one of the stars of Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing,” served as master of Ceremonies.  He felt a connection to the Gift of Life organization after learning that its mission arose in response to the devastating effects of the Holocaust which severed family bloodlines and made the search for donors for Jewish patients particularly difficult.  Flagg recently wrote a book retelling his own grandmother’s stories about her experience as a Holocaust survivor.

 

Jay Feinberg, the Founder and Executive Director of Gift of Life, and himself a transplant survivor, remarked, “Witnessing these special moments when transplant recipients and donors meet for the first time is always an uplifting experience, and this year’s Gala was no exception  It is enormously gratifying to see the positive outcome of our work.”

 

This year’s Partners for Life Award was presented in honor of the legacy of Alan Cohen. A Partner at York Capital Management, a global investment firm in New York City, Alan was diagnosed in October, 2009 with leukemia.  Gift of Life worked closely with Alan’s family, friends and colleagues in the hope of finding a matching bone marrow donor.  Sadly, he passed away before a match could be found; however, in the span of just three months, thousands of donors were recruited to the Gift of Life registry on his behalf.  His legacy will live on through the countless donors who will go on to save the lives of other patients in need.  York Capital Management was honored with the Corporate Commitment Award which was accepted by the company’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, James Dinan who said, “It was heartwarming to hear all the success stories of the many donors and recipients.  York Capital is proud to be involved with Gift of Life in savings lives.  We hope our efforts on behalf of our partner and friend Alan Cohen will continue to lead to many more lives being saved.  The gala honoring Alan Cohen’s legacy and York Capital was a very special event.”

 

For more information regarding Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Barby Sloven by phone at 1.800.9MARROW, e-mail at bsloven@giftoflife.org or visit Gift of life’s website at www.giftoflife.org.