I’m imaginably rich. I just won the lottery B’H (thank G-d). I really did. And now I’ve got to decide how to spend the rest of my life.
How did it start?
Well, like so many of us, I received a letter six months ago in the post entering me into a special prize draw. How had this organisation got hold of my name? Why were they sending me letters ? What was my zechus (merit) to be offered such a prize?
To answer that question, we have to go back a further fourteen years. Then, along with many other members of my Shul (synagogue), I attended a desperate search to try and save the life of a young woman who was about to die. She needed a special tissue-type match from (probably) amongst the Jewish population, and thousands of us went to our local Shuls to join the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register. Unfortunately, a good enough match was not found, and this soul was returned to its creator.
Fourteen years later, I was also found to be a potential life saving match for a very sick and dying person. And thus the first letter. But it wasn’t that easy, since the letter stated that I was one of four possible donors, and another blood test could decide which of us might be the best donor and life-saver. So off I went on an expenses-paid trip to the Royal Free Hospital in north London for a routine blood test and medical questionnaire.
And four weeks later, out of the blue, another letter in the post. I had won !! That 25% chance had come true. So I was booked into the luxurious London Clinic hospital in central London for a minor procedure (with a one-night post-operative stay). The op itself is routine, and I put it on a par with flying. Do you remember the first time you flew? If you are prepared to fly on holiday, surely you are prepared to do this. You are given a general anaesthetic, and whilst unconscious for twenty-five minutes or so, a syringe is put through the small of your back a few times to withdraw bone marrow. When I woke up I had a few syringe puncture marks in the small of my back. Next morning, I went home. For me there was no pain involved, but for the ten days after I rested and did not lift anything (and I need to thank my family and wife for their tremendous help and support in letting me rest). Although I didn’t feel the need for so much rest, I was told it was important for a clean recovery that I do so.
Please bear in mind that there are two ways to donate bone marrow, and I chose the more traditional method because I am so much of a wimp (I once tried to give blood in a blood donation session, but I am so squeamish and scared of needles that I was told, thanks, but no thanks, don’t bother coming back). Even putting on my Tefillin-shel-Yad (religious arm ornaments worn every day by Orthodox Jewish men during morning prayers) too tight in the morning sometimes makes me feel unwell.
Four months after the donation, I received the letter. The recipient I donated to, I was told, is well, and getting back to normal. And that is a relief, as even with the donation the chances of long-term survival of a recipient (on average) are around 50 / 50. But without the donation, the chances are infinitesimally small.
Who is my recipient? I have absolutely no idea. I am not allowed to be told, and even the doctors extracting my bone marrow have no idea (they are there to look after my welfare, not the recipient’s). It is a truly anonymous process, with no way of knowing who you are giving to (neither can the recipient find out who the donor is). You can choose to ask for a progress report of your anonymous recipient if you wish, and I did so, thus the wonderful news this morning.
Being Jewish born means that we are a lot less likely to find a donor match than an average person (whose chance is already small). Our genetic make-up means that we are unlikely to find a match outside the Jewish population, but the Jewish population makes up only a very small proportion of those who have been put on the bone marrow register.
So can I encourage you 18 – 40 year olds, especially you men, to join the register. Imagine the immeasurably rich reward of having saved somebody’s life, and helping them do further Mitzvot (good deeds) or even for them to be saved and grow and have families of their own (after all, whilst the recipients can be anyone, statistically they are much more likely to be sick little children who, only if helped by you, can grow to become parents and grand-parents in your Zechus (merit).
