Tell us about your nominee. Why should he or she be recognized as a Jewish Community Hero?
Yocheved is a two-time stem cell donor through the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation began as an effort in 1991 to save the life of Jay Feinberg. Jay was diagnosed with Leukemia and was not responding to the usual treatment. His only hope was to get a bone marrow transplant from someone with a similar DNA structure and none of his relatives were a match. He was told that he will die because he was Jewish. The national registry did not have a match for him since they never reached out to any Jewish communities to register as potential donors.
His family contacted the media and all of the Hillel houses at the major universities. The response was amazing. People came out in droves to see if they may be able to save his life and "Friends of Jay" was born. They managed to get 60,000 people to sign up. They were able to find the match he needed through this effort and was able to live. Jay dedicated his life to continuing this cause and changed the name "Friends of Jay" to "The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation "and now they 135,000 people in the registry. The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation is able to match 70% of the Jewish population if any one should, G-d forbid, get Leukemia.
