Gift of Life Australia's First Donor Drive in Melbourne's Masada Hospital

Over 100 people turned up on a beautiful wintry Sunday morning at the Gift of Life Australia's first Donor Drive in Melbourne's Masada Hospital.

Over 100 people turned up on a beautiful wintry Sunday morning at the Gift of Life Australia's first Donor Drive in Melbourne's Masada Hospital.
50 of these had a blood test (2 teaspoons of blood) which will be tissue typed by the Australian Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) to ascertain if they can save the life of one of the 4 Jewish leukemia patients in need of an urgent stem cell transfusion .
The likelihood of being found a match is 1 in 100.000, higher within one's same ethnic background
There are approximately 20,000 Jews in Victoria between the ages of 18 & 45 who can make a difference...and save a life.
Esther Ceichanowski twenty something teacher at Beth Rifka school did just that. Nearly two years ago she was found matching to young Einat in Israel who was on her deathbed. Esther's Stem cells were collected at Southbank Red Cross Blood Bank, flown to Israel , transfused into Einat who today is a happy teenager sending photos of herself summer holidaying with friends at home, to her saviour in Melbourne - Esther.
On Sunday at Masada Hospital in the presence of the CEO Victorian ABMDR, Rhonda Holdswotrh, Headmaster of Beit Rifka, Mr. S Gurewicz, her 2 grandmothers, sisters, aunties and Mum Tilly. Esther received the most honourable certificate - a DONOR CARD given to the few lucky people who can say "I gave the gift of life".
The Sunday donor drive was such a success that founder of Gift of Life Australia, Shula Endrey-Walder plans to hold, with the voluntary help of SBS Journalist Yehuda Kaplan & the generous co-operation of Masada Hospital, many more of these Sunday testing. "Once people hear how easily they can save a life, they are very keen to do so, however the awareness of this issue is our biggest mission at this time and ....as of today, only 19,050 more people to be registered in Victoria!"