Gesher: What a mitzvah to help save a life!
Sonia Newell – Development Officer
Gift of Life Australia need our help on Mitzvah Day:
19 November
Robert Klein and Shula Endrey-Walder – OAM
Emanuel School grandmother Shula Endrey-Walder OAM is a geneticist, genetic counsellor and Founder of Gift of Life Australia: www.giftoflifeaustralia.org.au
The School connection to this amazing organisation continues on.
Unbeknown to Robert Klein, a past Emanuel parent, Shula organised with his wife Deborah to present him with a Certificate of Appreciation for setting up and maintaining the Gift of Life’s Facebook page. It was only whilst they were all at Wolper Jewish Hospital in Woollahra on 22 October for this presentation, that their daughters Hayley and Ariella who are both Emanuel alumni, decided on the spur of the moment, to be tested as part of the program to find matches for Jewish blood cancer patients in urgent need.
Hayley Klein (Class of 2011) being tested by Gift of Life volunteer Dr Jessica Ivany
Modern medicine today allows hope and a cure for life threatening disorders such as leukaemia, lymphoma, aplastic anaemia and myelofibrosis by exchanging the sick cancer cells with healthy genetically matching ones.
Right now there are three adult Jewish blood cancer patients as well as three babies in urgent need of unrelated blood stem cell donors, however the Jewish community is under-represented on the world wide registries and these patients will surely die soon unless matching donors are found for them shortly. Jewish families today are so much smaller due to the ravages of the Holocaust.
Only one in three blood cancer patients find a match in their own family and the other 70% must find a match within their own community who are tested and enrolled on the unrelated worldwide stem cell and bone marrow donor registries.
The likelihood of finding an unrelated donor even within one’s own ethnic group is 1 in 10 000.
Potential life-saving blood stem cell donors who are of Jewish descent, healthy 18-45 years old, weighing 50+kg, neither pregnant nor breastfeeding and willing to save a life, are invited to make appointments to be tested at the Wolper Jewish Hospital this Sunday 19 November, MITZVAH DAY from 3.00 – 4.30 pm and subsequent Sunday mornings by appointment.
All it takes is completing the Red Cross and ABMDR medical questionnaire and forms and giving a two teaspoon (6 ml) blood sample, or whilst donating blood at any Red Cross Donor Centre, asking to join the Registry.
Mums-to-be can donate their umbilical cord blood which is ordinarily thrown out but can save a life.
*Gift of Life Australia has special dispensation from the Red Cross/ABMDR to test potential donors who lived in the UK during Mad Cow times (1986-1999) even when they are not allowed to donate blood in Australia.
How good would it be if more members of our amazing school community could also get involved in this life-saving project. You never know whose life you may be able to help save through such a small but important donation!
If you have some news to share, please send it to: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au
