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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Two Transplant Recipients Meet Their Lifesaving Donors at Gift of Life Marrow Registry Charitable Gala
Annual Event Supports Mission to Add New Donors to Registry and Celebrates 30th Transplant Anniversary of Gift of Life Founder & CEO Jay Feinberg Transplant recipient meets stem cell donor for first time Two-year-old boy introduced to lifesaving stem cell donor NEW YORK, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gift of Life Marrow Registry hosted its One Huge Night NYC Gala, where two lifesaving blood stem cell donors were united with their transplant recipients, one only two years old, for the first time. The event, held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York, N.Y. on June 4, 2025, brought together donors, transplant recipients, business leaders, and community members in support of Gift of Life's mission to cure blood cancer, inherited immune disorders and other diseases. The gala also marked the 30th anniversary of Jay Feinberg's transplant, the Founder and CEO of Gift of Life Marrow Registry, whose personal journey as a recipient inspired the creation of the organization. The donor-recipient pairs were introduced by Montana Tucker, an award-winning performer and social media activist, and David Blumenfeld, Principal of the Blumenfeld Development Group. The first donor and recipient pair to be introduced included Boris Semkhayev, a 30-year-old medical student from New York City and his 26-year-old recipient, Michelle Bibichayev, from Flushing, Queens, N.Y. In June 2023, Bibichayev was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, initially mistaking her symptoms for pregnancy-related fatigue. After routine blood work, Bibichayev learned of her life-threatening condition and feared for both her own survival and her baby's future. Faced with the need for a stem cell transplant, she felt nervous, but hopeful. Even while enduring strenuous chemotherapy and recovering from an emergency C-section, she remained optimistic. 'Thank you to Boris and Gift of Life for giving me a second chance at life,' said Bibichayev. 'I had a rare type of cancer, and I didn't think I would survive or that my son would have a mother. You saved my life.' Semkhayev joined the Gift of Life registry while attending Hunter College in 2015. When he found out he was a match for a patient, he was about to begin a new semester in medical school but immediately agreed to help. 'If your brother or sister, God forbid, needed a life-saving transplant, chances are you or anyone in your family couldn't donate,' said Semkhayev. 'But by others in your community signing up, your loved one could receive that second chance. You can be that hero. My recipient was from my own ethnic community, and that connection made all the difference.' The second pair of the evening shared an equally touching story. Lindsay Wilson, a 24-year-old recent graduate from St. Petersburg, Fla., was deeply moved to meet Logan Rich-Aiken, her two-year-old recipient from Waldorf, Md., who was battling Inherited Immune Systems Disorders. She joined Gift of Life's registry in 2020 at a donor recruitment drive held at Florida State University. She was thrilled when she got the call four-and-a-half years later letting her know that she was a match for a little boy in need. 'Each day was a reminder that committing to help save a life is nothing compared to what the recipients and their families are enduring," said Wilson. "We have the power to make a difference, and that difference can start with joining the registry.' The gala served as a platform to recognize the unwavering commitment and outstanding advocacy of several supporters. The organization's highest honor, the Partners for Life Award, was presented to Lynn Schusterman for her support and generosity through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. Her long-standing partnership and collaborative recruitment efforts have inspired young people to drive positive change in the world. In addition, longtime Gift of Life supporter, board of directors member and transplant recipient Dr. Stephen Colen received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and international law firm Fried Frank was honored with the Corporate Partner Award. Wendy and Stephen B. Siegel, Gift of Life of Life Board Member and Chairman of the Board, respectively, served as Gala Chairs, Susan and Edward Blumenfeld, Board Member, served as Honorary Gala Chairs and Heller and Jeffrey Goldberg, Board Member, served as Gala Vice Chairs. The event was emceed by Ezra Fineman, a 15-year-old stem cell transplant recipient from Fairlawn, N.J. About Gift of Life Marrow RegistryGift of Life Marrow Registry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. The organization, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives by facilitating blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. The registry houses its own state-of-the-art stem cell collection center, biobank, and laboratory. To learn more about Gift of Life Marrow Registry, visit Media contact: Amy GlanzmanPhone: (561) 982-2900; Email: aglanzman@ Photos accompanying this announcement are available at in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Hindu
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Coal India Limited felicitates CMC for Thalassemia care
Coal India Limited has awarded the Department of Haematology of the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore for its work in thalassemia treatment and care A release said that the award – as part of the CIL's Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana (TBSY) programme – was presented by Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy to Gomathi Joseph, Senior Social Worker of the department, and her team at a function in New Delhi recently. The award is titled 'Gift of Life through Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana', a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the CIL, and the scheme aims at supporting underprivileged children suffering from thalassemia. As many as 208 children have undergone life-saving transplants at the CMC under the scheme, to mark the World Thalassemia Day. Vikram Mathews, Director, CMC, appreciated the efforts of the Haematology Department for securing the award, the release added.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘He's a very, very sick man,' but not after a new heart and kidney; Pennsylvanian ready for ‘Donor Dash'
YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — The day before what was supposed to be routine knee-replacement surgery — a year after similar successful surgery on his other knee — Joel Pechart mowed his lawn. He had a little bit of discomfort (hence the need for the surgery), but he loved mowing the grass — although maybe not as much as he loved his music collection, and certainly not as much as he loved his family: his wife Marylou; his daughter, son-in-law and four grandsons; and his son. He almost never saw any of his loves again. 'I heard the call — the code, cardiac arrest in the PACU, the post-anesthesia recovery unit,' Marylou Pechart recalled. 'And I saw all these people running, and it was another 15 or 20 minutes until they came and got me. And they said, 'He's a very, very sick man.' 'I never woke up,' Joel Pechart explains now — not because he remembers that or anything that happened the next two weeks, but because he learned the story after. 'I had a heart attack on the table.' Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now That was at WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital, where a team rushed Joel Pechart by air to WellSpan York — urgency and treatment the Pecharts credit with saving Joel Pechart's life. Still, 'we were hoping he would make it through the night,' Marylou Pechart recalled. 'He was gravely ill. The heart was so badly damaged. He was on life support.' Next came a transfer to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, where Joel Pechart would wait as long as he needed (about eight months, it would turn out) for not only a new heart but a new kidney too — he would likely die outside the hospital without the organs. (Marylou spent months living and being fed and cared for nearby at Gift of Life Howie's House, which she says was 'livesaving for me'; Gift of Life is the federally-recognized organ transplant organization for eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.) Mifflin County shelter service requesting donations to stay open Marylou shows a photo of Joel, then 67 years old but looking far older, in a wheelchair outside the in April 2024 — on the same day, she said, as Gift of Life's annual 'Donor Dash' run/walk event to raise money and awareness for organ donation. About a month later, Joel got a 45-year-old heart and kidney — maybe that's why he feels years younger now than before? — and this year, Joel and Marylou will lead their own team of about 20 people (which continues raising money) at the Donor Dash. Turns out, Joel's dire predicament wasn't as unusual as it might sound. 'It's not super uncommon for people to need two organs, just because they all work together,' said Kendall Bunch, a Gift of Life spokesperson. So when one organ fails, she explained, that failure puts additional strain on other organs. Fortunately, more than one organ from the same deceased donor can typically be a good match for the same recipient; that's what happened for Joel Pecharts. Another thing not uncommon: what the Pecharts are doing now to show their gratitude that Joel can enjoy his grandchildren and his record collection and — yes– that he's already mowing the lawn again less than a year after his transplants, and to encourage other people to register to donate their organs. 'That's what organ donation and transplantation is all about,' Bunch said. 'Hopefully once they're saved, they can help save someone else.' Central Pennsylvanians can register here to indicate they want to donate their organs when they die. You can also register at a driver license center, and it's fine to do both, just to make sure your wishes are well known. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gift of Life Transplant House names new executive director
Apr. 1—ROCHESTER — The Gift of Life Transplant House has named Stephanie Donovan as the new executive director, the nonprofit said in a Facebook post on Monday, March 31. Donovan will play a pivotal role in driving the nonprofit's strategic initiatives and fostering continued growth. The Rochester Gift of Life Transplant House has provided high-quality, affordable accommodations for transplant patients and their caregivers in a supportive, home-like environment for the past 41 years. As a program manager at Zumbro Valley Health Center for the past five years and co-owner of the previous Roasted Bliss Coffee & Bakery, Donovan is driven by a desire to work with and help others, the statement said. Roasted Bliss closed in January 2024. "We are excited to welcome Stephanie to Gift of Life," Mary Wilder, retiring executive director, said in the statement. She has been the director since 2017. "Her creative and entrepreneurial mindset along with her passion for excellence, align perfectly with Gift of Life's values and mission. We are confident her leadership will propel us to new heights and reinforce our mission." Donovan will spend the next month working closely with Wilder.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania woman hears deceased son's heart beat inside Michigan transplant recipient
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — When Anthony Glusko turned 16 and checked the box on his driver's license application that yes, he would donate his organs in the event of his untimely death, he might have thought of all the people his organs could help. He probably didn't know how his decision would indirectly help his own mother deal cope when, at 24 years old, Glusko — the volunteer-of-the-year Eagle Scout and Bishop McDevitt High School graduate whose love of community service was just as important to his mother as his intellect (he was working on a master's degree in aerospace engineering at Penn State — died of a brain injury. 'It does help with the grief process,' said Priscilla St. Jacques-Glusko. 'And for me, knowing that he was able to give to others and others who are able to live on because of his donation is the most important thing.' Those people include the woman in her 70s who got Glusko's liver, according to information St. Jacques-Glusko got from Gift of Life, the transplant agency that serves the eastern half of Pennsylvania. It includes the young boy who got Glusko's right kidney, the man in his 50s who got his right lung and the woman in her 40s who got his pancreas, not to mention as many as 100 people who got his bone marrow. And they include — most especially of all for Priscilla — the man who got Glusko's heart: 65-year-old Joe Leduc of Paw Paw, Michigan, not far from Kalamazoo. Gift of Life offers to put donor families in touch with the recipients of donated organs. 'And it is very difficult,' Dwendy Johnson, Gift of Life's community relations supervisor, said of the torn emotions families can feel when they speak with people who are alive partly because their loved ones died. 'And what we do is we really respect their timing.' Turned out, counterintuitively, St. Jacques-Glusko was ready before Leduc. 'It took me about a year to respond,' Leduc said, 'just because you really — the guilt really starts to set in.' St. Jacques-Glusko reassured Leduc — from afar at first and then when she and her daughter and Anthony's older sister, Jeaneatte, 31, were in Detroit last year and made plans to meet Leduc, who previously owned the Leduc Blueberries farm. A year after his successful transplant — which he credits for letting him meet three new grandchildren and see two children get married, five years after doctors told him he had less than 18 months to live without a heart transplant — Leduc sold the farm. Later, he ran successfully to become a township supervisor in Almena Township, Van Buren County. The families had dinner together, and St. Jacques-Glusko and Leduc hugged, and that last part is not a minor detail of the story. 'The most important thing to me in meeting him was being able just to give him a hug and hear the heartbeat,' St. Jacques-Glusko said. Yes: leaning up against Leduc's chest and listening to Glusko's heart beating inside. Friday — Valentine's Day — is National Donor Day. Saturday marks exactly five year's since Glusko's death on Feb. 15, 2020; Leduc got his heart Feb. 19. The worst news of St. Jacques-Glusko's life came in a late-night phone call to rush to the hospital. The best news of Leduc's life — which he knows not to feel guilty for, because St. Jacque-Glusko told him so — came in an early-morning phone call days later. Leduc learned at age 40 he had a congenital heart defect — despite his rather healthy lifestyle — and would someday need a transplant. That day came when he was 59 and in heart failure, facing the dire prognosis four months before his life-saving transplant at what is now Corewell Health (formerly Spectrum Health) Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. 'Everything I went through in the last five years' — mostly good things, to be clear — 'wouldn't have even been possible,' Leduc said. Unsurprisingly, Leduc and St. Jacques-Glusko both evangelize organ and tissue donation. Pennsylvania and Michigan are both among the majority of states that allow residents to indicate a wish to donate on their driver's licenses, or you can register through Gift of Life or the transplant agency that serves your local area. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
