Kewl Info: Gift Of Life Stem Cell and Marrow Foundation

Our Mission & Vision

Leukemia is a random killer. It can strike any one of us at any time. But for many, there is hope of a cure through a bone marrow, blood stem cell or umbilical cord blood transplant. In fact, one in 200 Americans will receive such a transplant in their lifetime.

Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, Gift of Life is one of the nation's public bone marrow, blood stem cell and umbilical cord blood registries. Through its life-saving work, Gift of Life is a world leader facilitating transplants for children and adults suffering from many life-threatening diseases, among them leukemia and lymphoma.

Gift of Life's vision for the future is simple: A match. Anytime. Anywhere. For anyone. Please join us in a global movement to save lives. Become a member with a simple cheek swab today!

Our History

When Jay Feinberg was diagnosed with leukemia and told he would need a bone marrow transplant to survive, he had no idea that his personal journey would result in the establishment of a grass roots organization that would later save the lives of hundreds of patients in need. But that's precisely what happened.

Jay's story is one of transforming adversity into success. When he got sick, Jay was told that a transplant could save his life, but he would die needlessly because he would never find a matching donor. He quickly learned the reason why. A patient's best chance of finding a genetic match lies with those of similar ethnic background. Unfortunately, the worldwide registry was not representative of all ethnic groups, and Jay was Jewish. There was an urgent need to add diversity to the registry, and time was of the essense.

Jay's family and friends didn't want to see him die. They wanted him to have an equal opportunity to find a match. So they launched an ambitious grassroots donor recruitment campaign, resulting in the enrollment of tens of thousands of new donors in the worldwide registry. But after four years, and finding matches for so many other patients in need, there was still none for Jay.

That's when his miracle happened. A young man decided to run one last drive because his best friend had found a match through a drive held for Jay. He knew the odds were against him, but he was determined to return the gift. And that is exactly what he did.

Jay's four year search for a donor came to a close in May 1995. The very last donor - tested at that very last drive - turned out to be his miracle match! Jay received his transplant soon after at the world renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle thanks to his miracle match, Becky, and a determined young man who wouldn't take no for an answer when he ran that very last drive!

Gift of Life Today

It is said that saving one life is like saving the entire world. When Becky donated her bone marrow to Jay, she saved more than one life, because Gift of Life's mission did not end with Jay's successful transplant. The organization is as vibrant and dynamic today as the day it was founded. Click here for up to the minute statistics on Gift of Life's registry size, match rate and number of transplants facilitated.

Gift of Life is an associate donor registry of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and a participating member of the worldwide registry Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide. In addition to its dual accreditations from the NMDP for its Marrow Donor Registry and Cord Blood Bank, Gift of Life's Cord Blood Program at UMass is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). Gift of Life is accredited by the World Marrow Donor Association, and holds state tissue banking licenses required for its activities.

Gift of Life has been a leader in the world of donor registries. It was the first to: utilize bloodless (buccal swab) testing routinely at donor recruitment drives; launch an online registration system for donors to join the registry; establish a Jewish umbilical cord blood bank; establish a donor registry dedicated to recruitment in the Jewish community; develop a secure online system that made it possible for transplant centers and international registries to search and request donors realtime for their patients; fully type donors on a routine basis; become a domestic associate donor registry of the National Marrow Donor Program; establish formal recruitment partnerships with Jewish campus groups, making the recruitment priority to enroll younger donors who will remain in the registry longer, facilitating more transplants over time.

Other registries and recruitment groups have followed Gift of Life's lead by adopting its ideas and initiatives, and some have turned to Gift of Life in order to seek advise, train with its leadership and take Gift of Life's strategies home with them to implement in their own communities around the world. Gift of Life has helped other minority populations in their recruitment initiatives, and is proud to share its expertise for the benefit of patients everywhere.

Gift of Life has been publicly recognized for its achievements and work helping the Jewish community. Most notably, Gift of Life's founder, Jay Feinberg, is the inagural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize and the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award. Jay is also the recipient of the Hadassah International World Citizenship Award. Most recently, Jay recieved an Honorary Doctorate from Yeshiva University with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.