The Gift of Life Marrow Registry recently hosted its annual “One Huge Night” gala, gathering an audience of celebrities, philanthropists, and supporters to celebrate the selfless individuals who have donated blood stem cells or bone marrow to help save lives. This year’s event, held in Los Angeles on September 16, was especially moving as two donors met their transplant recipients for the first time.
In one heartwarming reunion, 21-year-old Jacob Isrow, a biomedical engineering student, met Mark Josephson, a leukemia survivor. Isrow had donated stem cells after joining the registry during a Birthright trip, and his gift saved Josephson’s life after he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
In another touching moment, Jason Tornes, a 24-year-old medical assistant from Ohio, met his recipient, a 1½-year-old girl named Isla, who was battling Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Tornes had joined the stem cell donor registry while in college and was surprised to be a perfect match for the young girl.
The gala also marked an important milestone in the collaboration between Gift of Life and Taglit-Birthright Israel, celebrating over 500 successful transplants facilitated by young adults who participated in the program. This partnership has helped expand the donor pool, adding over 104,000 potential stem cell donors to the registry.
With each donor making an extraordinary difference in the lives of their recipients, the event highlighted the critical importance of stem cell donations in fighting blood cancers and other diseases.