An exciting meeting was held between Oz Lavie, a bone marrow donor, and Yitzhak Hillel, an IDF invalid who received the donation that saved his life.
Hillel, 70, married and the father of five children from Ma'ale Adumim, was a armorer in the Yom Kippur War when his tank was hit by an Egyptian tank.
His tank friends were killed, he survived but was seriously wounded.
About a year and a half ago, Hillel contracted cancer that required a bone marrow transplant, but doctors refused to approve the transplant, saying that due to the injury and his serious medical condition, he would not survive it.
Hillel did not give up, moved to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, where, with the help of Ezer Mitzion, he succeeded in convincing the doctors to perform the transplant, which took place a little over a year ago.
Hillel's life was saved, and since then he has been expecting to meet the person who donated to him.
Now, Hillel has discovered for the first time who saved his life, and the two met this week for the first time at Ezer Mitzion's home in Petah Tikva.
The person who donated the bone marrow is Oz Lavie, 26, from Rosh HaAyin.
"You are my angel. You gave me life and hope when there was no hope," Hillel told Lavie in the moving encounter.
Lavie replied that "it's fun to see this result in front of your eyes. I'm sure you went through difficult years, and the search for a donor is tedious at times."
Hillel kept thanking him: "It really is much more significant and big than you think. And the gift I received is a rarity."
"You gave me hope and life, when there was no hope."
Lavie and Hillel, Photo: Gideon Markovich
Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of the Bone Marrow Reservoir, Ezer Mitzion, said: "We were excited to take part in the meeting between Oz and Yitzhak.
A meeting of giving that represents mutual guarantee and boundless giving.
Yitzhak's transplant coordinator contacted us and efforts were made to find him a donor.
Indeed, when we found Oz and turned to him, he enlisted for the mission.
It is important for me to note that this is a simple, non-painful donation, which is made at our Oranit home, when the donor is connected to a device similar to a blood donation.
At the end of 4 hours a sufficient dose is collected for transplantation, thanks to which we can save lives.
I thank Oz from the bottom of my heart for the quick mobilization and wish him to always be on the giving side. "
The National Database for Bone Marrow Donors was established by Ezer Mitzion to help patients with serious illnesses find a suitable bone marrow donor, thus saving their lives.
Since its inception, more than a million potential donors have joined the pool.
The national reservoir is the fifth largest in the world.
To date, more than 4,400 transplants have been performed in Israel and in many countries around the world thanks to the database.
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