Ezer Mzion, Inc.

Ezer Mizion's International Jewish Bone Marrow Registry is its prime division and currently its major focus. For many cancer patients, the sole chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant. Success is contingent on genetic matching and Jews tend to match Jews. A Jewish registry is, therefore, a vital need and an 'insurance policy' for Jewry worldwide. The largest Jewish registry in the world, Ezer Mizion has over 800,000 registrants. However, the high cost of genetic testing precludes sufficient expansion to meet the needs of the global Jewish community. Until 2012, all testing has been funded by the generosity of Jews around the globe. A new law has been passed in Israel allowing for 25% of the expected annual registration to be government funded. Seventy five percent will still need to be funded by outside sources. An eight year old boy named Tal is a case in point. When he was six and his friends were entering first grade, Tal spent most of his time in the hospital fighting for his life. Two years later, his doctor advised a transplant as the only recourse. Ezer Mizion was contacted, as were the smaller registries. No match was found. The race was on and a drive was set up. New registrants were tested. Eventually a match was found but the joy was short-lived. Tal's condition, as is often the case, had deteriorated and a transplant was no longer possible. Tal will never turn nine. With superhuman strength, Tal's father spoke publicly and urged people to donate generously so that the story can have a happy ending for other families. It is essential that the registry be enlarged so that a match is available at the time of need. A cancer patient cannot wait.

Occasional public drives and regular testing by Ezer Mizion of students who, being young , offer the greatest chance of remaining on the database for the longest period of time. Their highly varied ethnic background has been proven to be, by far, the best source of varied genetics, offering the most chance for a successful match.

A newly acquired Director of Swab Drives meets with heads of schools and sets up drives to increase the potential registrants with young people of varied ethnicity to enrich the registry with those who will have the greatest chance of genetically matching the largest number of patients in need of a life-saving transplant.

The registry continues to grow and the proportion of matches to requests, while increasing each year due to a larger amount of registrants on the database, has greatly increased. 454 transplants were performed in 2022 alone, a significant increase from previous years. (See report.) However, each death due to no match being found is a failure. All facts and figures are available either on website www.ezermizion.org/about or upon request.