Sarah Bickford is a young member of our community, a former Bais Yaakov student and former teacher at the JCC and Khal Chasidim childcare programs. Tamar Schulman, director of Khal Chassidim daycare said that Sarah is a much beloved, creative, and thrifty teacher.
Unfortunately, Sarah cannot work
anymore. After a severe illness, her kidneys no longer function properly, and she
must spend most of her time taking care of her health. Sarah’s diet is very
restricted, and she is often very tired and weak. To stay alive, she must go to
dialysis three times a week for three-and-a-half hours each time. If the
kidneys are not working properly, the dialysis machine does the kidneys’ job of
filtering the blood and removing waste products from the body.
Sarah has been accepted into a
program at John Hopkins Hospital Transplant Center, which means she will be
able to receive kidney if one becomes available. This could take from two to seven
years according to the doctors. She must always be prepared to receive a kidney
if a suitable donor is found. She works with a nurse transplant coordinator to
make sure she is prepared.
A WhatsApp group has been created dedicated
to Sarah’s recovery. They have already recited the whole sefer Tehilim many
times, and the family posts updates about Sarah: for example, test results that
show improvement. If you would like to join the group, you can email Sarah’s
mother Judy at getsarahakidney@gmail.com.
I spoke to Mrs. Zipporah Freedman,
the wife of Rabbi Mendel Freedman, zt”l. Rabbi Freedman had a heart
transplant and lived for 10 years after the transplant. The family decided to donate
kidneys in his memory. That is the next best thing, since a living person
cannot donate a heart. Three of her sons have donated kidneys through the
Renewal Organization. They recovered quickly from their surgery and became
close to the recipients of their kidneys. Mrs. Freedman told me, “Usually, if a
person has a problem with his kidneys, it effects both kidneys, so there is not
much point in keeping your extra kidney, ‘just in case.’”
Mayer Freedman, Mrs. Freedman’s son
had this to add: “My only regret is that I have only one kidney to donate. It
was tremendous zechus to do this in memory of my father and to use my
body to save another person’s life.”
Mrs. Eve Messing Steger was a
kidney recipient in 2008, 17 years ago. That year, at his annual teshuva
drasha, Rabbi Frand announced that a chashuve person in the
community needed a kidney, and a number of people responded to the request. In the
end, Miriam Jacoby donated a kidney to Eve, and they are good friends to this
day. When I asked Miriam why she did
this, she was shocked by my question. “How can you not do it! There is very
little that a person can do that has that kind of meaning. The donor has the
ability to make the recipient better.” She had thought about being a kidney
donor earlier, but she connected with Eve because their children were friends.
Tamar Schulman, the director of
Khal Chassidim day care, is also a kidney donor, and she explained how it came
about. Renewal had a program in Baltimore honoring kidney donors and
recipients. At the event they offered to swab people, the first step to kidney
donation. She had herself swabbed. By the time she heard from Renewal, four
years later, she had forgotten all about it. Renewal told her that there was a 39-year-old
Israeli man who matched her and needed a kidney. After some discussion about
when to do the donation because of her work schedule, Tamar donated a kidney on
August 22, 2022. Tamar, says, “I wish I had more kidneys to donate. I feel
perfectly fine now, and you could never see that I donated a kidney. She and
her recipient are good friends and speak on the phone at least once a week.
Recently Tamar attended the bris of his son.
When Hashem created people, He
created all of us with two kidneys even though a person only needs one. This
gives us the opportunity to donate a kidney to another person. The opportunity
is open to everyone who meets the criteria, and I hope that some readers of
this article will take the opportunity to have themselves swabbed to see if
they can be a match for Sarah. Wouldn’t it be amazing if this article unearthed
a donor who is a good match?
Meanwhile, Judy, Sarah’s mother, is
very grateful to the members of the community who have been supportive and
helpful to Sarah, and especially to the ongoing support of the Bikur Cholim
organization.
To learn more about kidney donation
or to see if you are a match, email rn26305@renewal.org or call 718-431-9831
Ext. 315.
