Jay Feinberg

Bone Marrow Donation

Jay Feinberg the founder and Executive Director of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation joins Melanie Cole M.S. to raise awareness in America about Bone Marrow donation and let people know that they are here to answer questions and get the facts straight about bone marrow donation.

A 16 year transplant survivor, Jay Feinberg is the founder and Executive Director of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.

Diagnosed in 1991 with leukemia and told that his only hope of a cure was a bone marrow transplant, Jay, his family and friends embarked on a groundbreaking international search to find a matching donor.

After organizing hundreds of recruitment drives around the world and testing tens of thousands of potential donors, Jay's match turned out to be the very last donor tested at the very last drive conducted. He received his transplant at the renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington in July 1995 thanks to his bone marrow donor and hero, Becky Faibisoff.

It is said that saving one life is like saving the entire world. When Jay was diagnosed he had no idea that his personal journey would result in the establishment of a grass roots organization that would become one of the world's leading bone marrow registries. But that's exactly what happened. Today, Gift of Life is credited with recruiting over 200,000 donors worldwide and facilitating over 2,300 transplants for patients in need.

Jay has served on the Board of Directors of the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). He also volunteers his time as an inspector for the WMDA's Accreditation Committee and serves on the Cord Blood Committee of the National Marrow Donor Program's Center for Cord Blood.

Jay received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Charles Bronfman Prize. Other notable honors include the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award and Hadassah International's Citizen of the World Award.

Jay is the recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa from Yeshiva University in New York, which he received along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has been an invited guest at the White House during the past two presidential administrations.

Melanie Cole, M.S.

11 / 2 / 2011