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Brooklyn Blood Cancer Survivor Meets Lifesaving Donor At Gift of Life Marrow Registry 5KAfter an international search of the bone marrow registry, a transplant recipient found her lifesaving donor mere miles away from where she lived. On Sunday, October 30, 2016, the two were introduced for the first time at the Gift of Life Marrow Registry Steps for Life 5K held at Battery Park in New York City. Astoria, N.Y. resident David Allen, 30, joined the Gift of Life registry in December 2012 while on trip to Israel for Birthright and donated his peripheral blood stems cells in May 2015. "When I received the call that I was a match, I was astounded and speechless," said Allen. "I never questioned though about going through the procedure." Melissa Scheinberg, 24, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was diagnosed with a rare T-cell lymphoma in 2015 and no one in her family was a match so she turned to the Gift of Life donor registry. "I was devastated when I learned my sisters wer not matches, but at the same time incredibly thankful that we found a healthy match to donate," said Sheinberg. "I'm forever grateful to David, he nearly single-handedly saved my life!" Due to the donor program's privacy policy neither party could share their identities until a year after the procedure. On Sunday they were finally able to meet. After their introduction, the two led the start of the 5K, along with grand marshals Steve and Wendy Siegel and CBRE serving as the Gold Sponsor. "I want to reinforce how seamless the entire donation process is and how little of an impact it is in your life, yet how critical it is to someone else's," said Allen. "It's an amazing opportunity to be entered into the raffle of being chosen to give the gift of life." ABOUT GIFT OF LIFE Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. As a bone marrow registry, Gift of Life is dedicated to saving lives and facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood-related diseases. www.giftoflife.org View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161101006114/en/ |
