A lone IDF soldier – one that has no immediate family in Israel – gave a Massachusetts doctor a new lease on life with a bone marrow donation.

Maya Ben Yitzhak, who hails from Chicago, decided to register with Ezer Mizion’s bone marrow registry, which required a simple scraping of the inside of her cheek with a swab.

Ben Yitzhak was surprised when, just a year later, the organization informed her that her bone marrow was a match for a 64-year-old Jewish woman in the United States.

The message came on her birthday, which enabled her to give the gift of life to someone halfway across the world.

Ben Yitzhak and the recipient got to know each other, and the gift just kept giving.

Ben Yitzhak told Ezer Mizion, “I had the privilege of getting to know Amy, and we have an amazing connection. A very special connection. Being a part of this is a life-changing step. It’s the greatest gift I could have asked for my birthday.”

Dr. Amy Rothenberg, a physician, was diagnosed with leukemia and was searching for a life-saving match.

She traveled to Israel to express her gratitude to the donor in person.

“When the doctor told me I had a match and she was in Israel, I said, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ I thank my donor every single day. I talk to her a lot. I thank her and keep telling her how much I appreciate her,” Rothenberg shared.

“Before I met my donor, I thought it took a lot of generosity and energy to agree to donate like that – to help someone from another part of the world and save their life – when you don’t know who it’s going to, who it’s saving – and still say yes. That’s incredible! Thank you very much for saying yes! Thank you very much for investing your time to save a life. And especially, thank you for saving my life.”

The two women met at the Ezer Mizion Cancer Center in Petah Tikvah, which is the sixth-largest registry in the world, encompassing a sample size of 1,300,000 potential stem cell donors.

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