The petite woman in bright blue glasses dashed off the stage towards the young man with the wide smile. Although they had never met before, they threw their arms around each other like mother and son – and now they share a bond almost as close! 

On October 27, 2016 at the Taglit Birthright Israel Annual Tour Educators conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, transplant recipient Etty Barzelai Glazer was introduced to her donor Peter Schottenfels for the first time.

Etty was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2013. As a lawyer and former anesthesiologist, she jumped in and started researching her condition. She found that the numbers were not optimistic. “There and then I decided to embrace my mother’s motto – ‘You can always die tomorrow,’” she said. Etty’s mother, a Holocaust survivor, was liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after four years. Her motto kept her alive.

After a 36-week chemotherapy regiment proved insufficient to cure the leukemia, it became clear that a transplant was needed. There were no matches found among Etty’s family members, and her doctors began an international search for a volunteer donor. Her match was found in Gift of Life’s registry.

Etty’s donor Peter, 30, joined the registry while on a Taglit Birthright trip to Israel in the summer of 2007. Young adults on the trips are routinely offered the opportunity to pay it forward by becoming a volunteer donor. When he received the call letting him know he was a match, Peter was ecstatic to learn that he would have the chance to do something so meaningful for another person.

He donated peripheral blood stem cells in March 2014 through apheresis, a process similar to platelet donation that separates stem cells from the bloodstream and returns the rest of the blood to the donor.  The bag of stem cells was hand-carried by a courier to the transplant center in Tel Aviv, and the infusion took place quickly. 

Video interviews with Peter and Etty, and coverage of their first meeting.

"When I first signed up to go on a Birthright Israel trip I was looking forward to an experience that would connect me with Judaism, with our heritage, and to travel to Israel for the first time,” said Peter. “I never could have imagined that things would have turned out as they did, and that through Birthright Israel, I would get to save a life. The entire experience strengthened my identity as a Jew. I feel fortunate to have gained a new family and an unbreakable bond with the people of Israel."

Due to the geographic distances, their first meeting did not happen for nearly two-and-a-half years, but when the opportunity finally arose, it was more than special. From the photos of them together, we suspect that Peter and Etty, who now share both blood and a common immune system, will also have an unbreakable bond.

Etty not only loves scuba diving, she also enjoys reading and learning. She has four adult children and lives with her husband in Tel Aviv.  She is featured in the new Taglit-Gift of Life partnership video. To view the video, click here. She has also been interviewed several times by newspapers in Israel, including The Times of Israel.

Peter is active as a runner and enjoys skiing, cooking and reading. He lives in New York where he works in public relations at a nationally known online marketplace. After meeting Etty on October 27, he returned directly to New York to run in the Steps for Life 5K on October 30.