Pikuach Nefesh Weekend: Gift of Life Drive

We are working with Gift of Life, an international public bone marrow and blood stem cell registry, to collect cheek swabs which will go to a laboratory for tissue typing, and that information will be entered in the international registry.

Through its life-saving work, Gift of Life is a world leader in facilitating transplants for children and adults suffering from many life-threatening diseases, like leukemia and lymphoma and also in amplifying the call for diverse donors.

Gift of Life was founded by an Ashkenazi (Eastern / Central European) Jewish man who survived leukemia after being the lucky recipient of a bone marrow transplant that took him four years to find due to the lack of ethnic donors. A patient's best chance of finding a genetic match for bone marrow and stem cell transplants lies with those of similar ethnic background. Unfortunately, the worldwide registry was and is still not representative of all ethnic groups. There is an urgent need to add diversity to the registry. Additionally, clinical studies show improved transplant outcomes when donors are between the ages of 18 and 35.

Considering all the donors in the registry, about 1 in every 250 donors is called as a match during any given year. Both transplant procedures are as simple as giving platelets and are of minimal risk to both the donor and the recipient.

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Co-hosted with: Jewish Student Union (JSU)

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