Today is a special day for a special little girl. July 2 will soon become Sarah’s second “birthday” – the anniversary of the transplant that we pray will bring her back to good health.

You probably know Sarah’s face from the Gift of Life website and from our Facebook page. Over a thousand new bone marrow donors enrolled with Gift of Life on her behalf. Sarah’s classmates and friends were especially helpful during her search. They were among our most enthusiastic recruiters at the Boston Marathon, where we recruited a remarkable 840 donors, including several runners who actually stepped away from the race to get swabbed!

In many ways Sarah is a typical nine year-old girl. She loves ice skating and horseback riding. She loves her dog, her Brownie troop, playing with her friends (who love her in return), eating Chinese food, and … the New York Yankees. You got it, she lives in Boston, but Sarah prides herself an ardent Yankees fan! She loves all the things a little girl her age would love. Well, maybe except the Red Sox!

But Sarah has special qualities that make her unique. Her mom describes her as deep and thoughtful with insights into life that most adults, let alone children don’t have… a beautiful child with a kind soul, a “gutte neshama.”

I had the opportunity to meet Sarah for the first time back in April when I visited her in the hospital. Prior to my visit with Sarah, her doctors told her family that she had treatment options, one of which might be a bone marrow transplant. At the time, her dad shared something with me that defines the very special child that Sarah is – and I quote – “I am the luckiest unlucky kid.”

I had to ask myself, why would Sarah feel lucky after being diagnosed with leukemia? As her dad explained to me, it was because the other kids on her floor definitely did need transplants. Sarah felt lucky because at that time she had other options, and she wanted to do all she could to help the other kids. In fact, her dad told me that she asked if she could donate her own blood or bone marrow to help them. Imagine that, as sick as she was, undergoing chemotherapy, and yet she was thinking of others, not herself! So it came as no surprise that Sarah agreed to lend her name and her photo to our swab-a-thon for the Boston Marathon, hoping to help all kids in need. Unfortunately, just a few days later, the doctors told Sarah and her family that the chemo had failed, and that she herself would need a bone marrow transplant after all.

It has been a long few months for Sarah and her family since that drive. Numerous other drives have added 1,277 new donors to the Gift of Life Registry, already finding three matches for patients in need, one of which has already resulted in a transplant. Please visit Swab4Sarah for details.

I am thankful to report that today, at last is Sarah’s special day. Today, Sarah receives her bone marrow transplant. Please join me in wishing Sarah a refuah schlema – a speedy recovery – and keep her in your daily prayers. Our thoughts are with her and her family. If you would like to share your well wishes, please add them below.