Encino, California. – A man from Encino received the “gift of life” through a bone marrow transplant last year, and he is now encouraging others to donate to save lives.
Michael Silberstein is the husband and father of a six-year-old girl named Nisah. He was diagnosed with an aggressive type of leukemia called AML, and he needed a bone marrow transplant.
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He said, “I remember the day I was diagnosed and just froze.”
Sarah Jordan, who was 19 years old at the time, was a student at Yale University and registered as a donor through “Be The Match”, and was able to donate her bone marrow to Silberstein without ever meeting him because Silberstein was not able to find a donor in his family.
Jones and Silberstein first met via Facebook Live on Tuesday for Giving Tuesday.
“This all became true to me [when Silberstein saw Jordan over Facebook] Because I realize now that this woman, this profound soul, has given me life without knowing who I am. When I saw her with my own eyes, I realized that this woman has a part of God inside of her. She has a divine spirit because only God gives life and she has given life too, so there is a piece of it that I didn’t know how to interact with, so I covered my face and froze. “
Silberstein is in awe of Jordanian self-denial at such a young age.
“Do you want to meet your donor, my doctor said, and I said, ‘Are you kidding me, I definitely want to know this spirit because I knew she was 19 years old. When I met her, I just covered my eyes because suddenly that amazing spirit resides in this vibrant, healthy and athletic young woman. “
Silberstein is now on a mission to help save other lives.
“I hope that what I do with my life and my mission is to save lives because at the end of the day, I will know that my life has been worth something more especially with the second lease,” he said.
More information on how to become a donor with Be The Match can be found here: https: //bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/donation-faqs/
