Miracle in 2007

ezer · Star Poster Joined: Dec 11, 2007 Posts: 14

“I wanted to say thank you,” begins 13-year-old Omri Attiya’s note to the anonymous donor whose stem cells will, be’ezras Hashem, enable him to beat leukemia. “I don’t know who you are, or how you look. Are we similar? Do you also like to go fishing?”
Omri Attiya lives in Holon with his parents and two brothers, Dvir and Amichai. A year ago, he began to experience severe headaches, which blood tests showed were caused by leukemia.
Standard treatments at Schneider’s Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikva failed to halt the disease, and doctors said his only chance was a stem-cell transplant. Doctors turned to Ezer Mizion, which runs a Bone Marrow Donor Registry with more than 300,000 tissue-typed samples, but none was compatible. Ezer Mizion then launched a nationwide bone marrow donor recruitment drive on Nov. 21 to find Omri’s perfect match.
Though the odds weren’t in his favor, Omri was optimistic. “I know that there is one special person out there who will show up and be suitable for me,” he said before the drive. “He will somehow hear about me and will come and donate.”
On Motzaei Shabbos, the fifth night of Chanukah, Omri’s mother got the call she had longed for from Dr. Bracha Zisser, head of Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Donor Registry: A perfect match had been found.
“We davened a lot, but we didn’t believe that a donor would be found,” said Dr. Zisser. “This is really a Chanukah miracle.”
Omri’s story touched a lot of people, as a record 31,000 showed up to be tested. The perfect match was found after only the 700th was tissue-typed.
"The chances of finding a matching donor were less than my chances of winning the national lottery,” he said. “I am of both Sephardic and Ashkenazic descent, making my chances more difficult."
When Omri’s mother told him the wonderful news he let out a shriek and jumped for joy. “I went to my brothers’ room,” he recalls. “We put on music and began to dance. I want to meet the donor, but they tell me it isn’t allowed.”
Not being able to thank his donor, or as Dr. Zisser put, his malach hamoshi’a, he wrote him a letter.
“All I know about you is that on the day of Ezer Mizion’s blood drive you came and gave a small sample of blood. For me, this sample is my private Chanukah miracle. In a little while, your blood will flow inside of me, and you will be my brother. The brother who gave me life.
“One thing’s for sure: This is a Chanukah I’ll never forget. Thanks to you.”
In interviews with the media, Omri, who is expected to receive the stem cells in a few weeks, tempered his joy by noting that there are other children who are still waiting to find their perfect match.
Ezer Mizion’s founder and international chairman, Chananya Chollak, told a press conference Monday: "It is not coincidence that Omri's miracle happened on Chanukah, during days that have been filled with miracles for the Jewish nation. We are gratified by the outpouring of concern and caring that united the Jewish nation in a massive combined effort to save Omri's life. We are deeply grateful to the Alm-ghty that He has accepted our prayers, and that He has graced our efforts with success, despite medical predictions that the chance of finding Omri a match were – at best – between 5 and 10 percent.
“We hope to be able to help many other patients all over the world in their struggle for life, by matching them with suitable bone marrow donors."