There’s nothing like a game of good old fashioned baseball to get you to feel that sense of American pride. But experiencing a meeting of a donor and recipient at Citi Field with the Mets and New York fans is a whole different ball-game. The Mets organization provided a day like no other for Gift of Life donor Ben and his recipient Morgan. As a donor goes through the process of testing and finally giving cells to a patient, the only personal information that is able to be revealed is the patient’s gender, age and diagnosis. The patient knows less than that. Monitored correspondence is allowed afterward, but for this pair, none was exchanged. Both donor and recipient simply went about their lives.

So for Ben and Morgan, the idea of meeting was not only an exciting idea, but a nerve-wracking one as well. When Ben received the call that he was a match for a child with acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, he was dealing with his own grief for his own father who had recently passed away from cancer. Still, there was no hesitation when asked if he would donate his cells to save another human being. As a father of three healthy children, he knew he had to give someone else’s child a chance at a new life. Morgan was a sick little girl and really unaware of what this transplant could mean for her, but her parents sure did. Hearing that there was a match for their daughter and that this transplant might give her the prospect of being well again, was all that they had hoped for.

And so, appearing on the Jumbotron, with family and baseball fans alike looking on as witnesses, Ben and Morgan came face-to-face with one another. A hug was exchanged, like a father to a daughter, and an inexplicable bond was formed between these two strangers that can never be broken. Whether near or far from one another, Ben and Morgan will always have that moment when it was just about the two of them, and how much each has done for the other. Ben not only knows that he has done a good thing by saving a life, but he also knows that Morgan helped him through his own grieving process. As for Morgan, Ben is her hero for giving her the cells she needed to be healthy again. Other than that, she’s just happy to live the life of a kid again.

Many of you have heard about my nomination for a Jewish Community Hero award. Receiving this award would include a grant in the amount of $25,000 and the opportunity to test 463 new donors that would become part of the registry. In turn, those donors would bring us that much closer to achieving our vision that any patient in need of a life-saving transplant will be able to find his or her perfect match! Please vote by clicking on this link http://bit.ly/voteforjay every day between now and October 8th.