BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Gift of Life Marrow Registry in Boca Raton is celebrating a lifesaving milestone of 500 blood stem cell donations.
It's an achievement that couldn't be made without the help of selfless individuals.
The Gift of Life-Be The Match Collection Center is the first such facility to be integrated within a registry.
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The nonprofit is aimed at curing blood cancer through cellular therapy.
Their efforts are personal to Gift of Life CEO and cancer survivor Jay Feinberg.
"[The organization] actually came out of my own search for a bone marrow donor. I was about a year out of college and was told I had leukemia and needed a transplant to save my life but didn't have a family member who was a match," Feinberg said.
The highlight of what staff does is to match donors with those who need them. Two of those people had a chance to meet Friday.
"There are very different people in the world, 7.5 billion, and I needed to find the perfect match to save my life. I always considered myself to be the luckiest person in the world and this experience has proven it once again. The Gift of Life has been spreading luck and science for 30 years. The collection in Boca Raton is celebrating 500 blood stem cell donations today," said Dave Fromson, bone marrow transplant recipient.
Donor Josh Posner and his family said they know just how important a match can be.
"We all just knew that to be able to have an opportunity like this isn't something that you should pass up on, and the way that they raised me is that what if the roles were reversed. What would you do then if someone that could save your life didn't do so?" stem cell donor Josh Posner said.
With a patient diagnosed with blood cancer every three minutes, it's never too late to make a difference.