
In the three years since he received the dramatic phone call, 26-year-old Asal Moore believed that the mysterious man he was supposed to save was no longer alive. But then another message arrived and Moore realized that hope was not yet lost.
50-year-old Eyal Shemesh is a father of five from Holon who almost lost his life. His battle with lymphoma cancer reached a point where it seemed that the end was near. Shemesh and his family members continued with all their strength to believe that somewhere there was someone in whose hands was the lifeline they were yearning for.
Moore and Shemesh never met before one saved the other's life. Moore, a chemical engineering student, received that dramatic phone call from Ezer Mizion’s bone marrow registry. He was told that he was perfect match for a patient who needed a stem cell transplant to save his life. He agreed without hesitation, knowing nothing more about the transplant recipient.
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Then, three years passed before he received another phone call telling him that the time had come to do the transplant, and the patient was stable enough to undergo the procedure. The high match rate between the stem cell donor and the recipient gave hope to Shemesh's family, especially because Eyal’s health was rapidly deteriorating.
"I was very excited on the day of the transplant," says Moore, "I kept thinking that the little time I invest in donating my cells and the relatively simple procedure I am going through will give him back his life. As soon as Ezer Mizion called me and said I was a match and could save a life, I couldn't stop thinking about the person who was waiting for my donation. Does he have has a wife? Does he have children? I thought to myself that what I’m doing is saving the life not only of the patient, but of his entire family!"
Shemesh patiently waited for the moment when he could meet the person who saved his life. "I waited for so long that a match would be found," said Shemesh, "It's hard for me to explain in words the feeling when they told me that they had found a stem cell donor and that I would be able to continue my life, with my family."
Another whole year passed until the two got to meet each other. The excitement at that meeting was so obvious. After all that waiting and suspense, the donor and the recipient finally got to know each other.
"From the moment I donated my stem cells, without even knowing him by name, I prayed for Shemesh's wellbeing, " said Moore, "Thoughts about him and anticipation for our meeting kept growing. I was thrilled when Ezer Mizion gave me his details and invited me to meet him. I saw before my eyes a father with five children, including a little baby girl. I saw their excitement! A lot of them, their relief. My stem cell donation took on greater meaning after I saw the face behind what I had done. They and I were very excited. My life has been changed by this single act and has taken on so much significance from that moment."
But that’s not the end of the story of saving lives. Shemesh's daughter, Linor, decided - after seeing how her father's life was saved - that she wanted to donate bone marrow as well. To be the one who gives after having received. To her delight, she received the message she wanted to hear when Ezer Mizion informed her that she was found suitable for saving the life of a baby. "I couldn't ask for more than that," said Linor on the day of the meeting. "When it happened I didn't stop crying. It was the closing of a circle. A circle of life."
Linor is already counting down the months until meeting the baby to whom she donated stem cells. "The opportunity to give back what I received, my father's new life, made me excited every moment I went through as part of the process."
Ezer Mizion’s registry has over one million one hundred thousand potential donors, many of them young, whose chances of transplant success are higher. So far, the lives of over 4500 people have been saved thanks to Ezer Mizion’s registry. "When someone calls and tells you that you have found to be a match for someone who needs a stem cell transplant, there are no grounds for concern," says Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of Ezer Mizion's international registry, "Today the stem cell collection is not performed in an operating room as in the past. It is simply a simple process which ultimately saves lives."
לתרומות לעזר מציון לחצו כאן - - http://www.ezermizionil.org/