THE National Council of Jewish Women lounge at Wolper Jewish Hospital was packed last week as the Jewish community honoured Shula Endry-Walder and Professor Leslie Burnett for their dedicated service to Gift of Life Australia and the Australian Community Genetic Carrier Testing Program.
Accepting her award, Endry-Walder recalled a phone call she received 26 years ago from -18-year-old leukaemia patient Jay Feinberg in New York, who had read her article in the Human Genetics Journal.
“Can you help me?” Feinberg asked. “I’m dying.”
Feinberg’s parents had sold their house, bought a Winnebago and travelled around America signing Jewish donors to the bone marrow donor registry. In four years, they tested 68,000 people and saved 15 lives. But they did not find a match for Jay.
Read the report by Yael Brender in the Australian Jewish News.