Gift of Life celebrated an important moment in our history: the 30th anniversary of Founder and CEO Jay Feinberg’s marrow transplant – a lifesaving event that sparked the organization’s mission to find a donor for every patient in need. In honor of this milestone, Gift of Life supporters in Seattle arranged an afternoon event on the scenic rooftop patio of he Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where Jay received his treatment and transplant.
On July 27, 2025, a large crowd ranging from colleagues in the biotechnology field, doctors and nurses from Fred Hutch, Gift of Life supporters, and stem cell/marrow donors and recipients learned about Gift of Life’s history, from Jay’s initial diagnosis of leukemia in 1991, through the four-year search to find his only matching donor, Becky, and the inspired creation of the registry.
Jay's lifesaving donor Becky attended this special occasion to mark the lifesaving transplant that connected them 30 years ago.
Local restaurants provided a beautiful array of food and then came the highlight of the afternoon: the emotional introductions of two donors to their recipients. Donors and recipients must remain anonymous for the first year after the transplant, so these meetings are long-awaited and heartwarming occasions.
Stem cell donor Kyle Rutherford (above, right), 27, a banker who lives in Seattle, was introduced to his stem cell recipient, Gary Anderson (above, left), 69, a retired business owner from Milwaukee, Wis. Making the introduction was Julie Rubinstein, President and COO of Adaptive Biotechnologies, located in Seattle. She is a member of Gift of Life’s board of directors and has a long connection to the mission, as her father is a blood cancer survivor thanks to multiple stem cell donations, including one from Julie.
Gary was diagnosed with a form of myelofibrosis back in 2017 and received a stem cell transplant from his HLA-compatible sister in 2018. About 30% of patients have a sibling who matches them, but the other 70% rely on the registry to find a matching donor.
Unfortunately, in spring 2023, Gary’s condition returned, and his doctors recommended searching for a matching stranger in the hope of achieving a permanent remission. His donor, Kyle, joined the registry at a drive on the University of San Diego campus as an undergraduate in 2018.
“My college buddies and I were crossing the campus and decided to register together,” said Kyle. “When I learned I was a match, I told my mom first – she was very excited!”
Kyle’s donation went smoothly, he mostly napped and watched Planet Earth, then his stem cells were on their way via medical courier to Gary’s transplant center.
“I felt relieved when the stem cells arrived,” said Gary. “I’m thankful Kyle was in the registry and willing to donate to someone he didn’t know.”
As the two men met for the first time they shared a warm hug.
“I’m grateful to be able to thank Kyle in person,” said Gary. “He obviously thinks not only of himself, but of others as well.”
Ariel Schabes (above, left), a 31-year-old meteorologist from Fair Lawn, N.J., was excited to finally meet his recipient Todd Clark (above, right), a freelance copywriter who lives in Seattle, Wash.
Todd visited his doctor in February 2024 for a persistent sore throat, but it wasn’t just a stubborn virus; he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Fortunately, Todd lived only a seven-minute drive from Fred Hutch, and his friends rallied around him to get his kids to school on time, help him with car repairs after an accident, and one even moved in for 100 days to help out during the post-transplant recovery period.
His donor, Ariel, had joined the registry in 2013 during a gap year study program at Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem. His hope was to help someone have a second chance at life with their family, and for more than a year he was looking forward to the chance to meet the man he now has a lifelong connection with.
Finally, the moment arrived, and Jay invited Ariel to step forward and meet Todd. The two men embraced warmly and spoke to the crowd.
“When we heard a little while ago about Jay’s journey back in the early 1990s, things were so different – he searched for so long to find someone,” said Todd. “But because of that search and the existence today of Gift of Life, my doctor told me matter-of-factly that we’d find a 10/10 match within a month in plenty of time for a transplant on June 25, and we were off and running.”
Adaptive Biotechnologies' CEO Julie Rubinstein and her team organized a donor recruitment drive at their offices in support of the event.
In support of Jay’s transplant anniversary, Adaptive Biotechnologies held a donor recruitment drive at their offices on July 25, two days before Celebrating Life.
Pre-drive outreach focused on the biotechnology industry drew a large crowd on Friday afternoon to complete their cheek swab kits. These new volunteer donors will be tissue-typed and added to the registry, and if they are found to match a patient in need, will be offered their chance to save a life.
“Volunteer stem cell donors have the power to help patients survive and recover from blood cancer and inherited immune disorders – among the very diseases the Seattle life sciences community seeks to cure,” said Julie. She added that the area’s highly diverse population is important to help save more lives. “Diversity is an urgent issue for those in need of stem cell transplants, as genetic matches are population-based, and minorities are underrepresented in registries around the world.”