A BAR MITZVAH GIFT OF LIFE
Boy, 12, helping in blood cancer fight
Gavi Aspler’s bar mitzvah is still a few months away, but the 12-yearold Côte-St-Luc resident plans to honour the event by raising awareness and funds for blood cancer treatments.
Aspler, along with family and friends, will be hosting a donor drive on Saturday, which is Purim night, a Jewish holiday, at Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Congregation in Côte-St-Luc.
Rachel Goodman, Aspler’s mother, said donors will not be asked to give blood Saturday, but rather allow their DNA to be collected through simple cheek swabs.
“We’re not drawing blood from anybody,” Goodman explained. “We’re taking cheek swabs; a little Q-tip you put in the person’s cheek to get their DNA. We’re looking for DNA matches for people with blood cancer. If you match somebody, if your genetic material matches somebody with blood cancer, then you can donate either stem cells or bone marrow to this person.”
Goodman said the plan is to collect cheek swabs from people who have not yet been tested with the swab kits forwarded to a Floridabased organization called Gift of Life. Then, hopefully, donor matches will be found while also raising awareness and funds for Gift of Life, which keeps a registry of human DNA. If someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, Gift of Life can help to find a match and hopefully save a life.
Goodman’s husband Judah Aspler once donated his stem cells to a cancer patient.
“My husband was called to be a donor while I was pregnant with my son,” Goodman said. “And my son is becoming a bar mitzvah in June. And in honour of his bar mitzvah, we had encouraged him to get involved in a charity of his choice. He chose this one in particular because of the personal connection.”
Goodman said that Gavi, a Grade 7 student at Hebrew Academy, a private Jewish school in Montreal, wanted to do something for others to mark his bar mitzvah, planned for June 24.
“Let’s be honest, he’s a 12-yearold kid. He doesn’t have a PhD in biochemistry or anything, but I think he’s aware of (cancer). He understands in general the importance of doing for others. We’re trying to imbue that in him,” she added.
Gavi is also selling raffle tickets to raise funds to buy swab kits. He’s raised about $3,500 so far, which pays for about 55 or 60 kits, surpassing his initial goal of 18 kits.
“I wanted to take up a charity project for my bar mitzvah, so then I chose Gift of Life,” said Gavi, who is expecting 400 people to attend Saturday’s Purim evening at the synagogue.
Goodman said the donor drive has taught her son valuable life lessons.
“When you become a bar mitzvah, it’s not just about becoming an adult and being responsible for yourself. It’s very important obviously that he’s learning his Torah portion and he’s going to be in the synagogue but being an adult also means being morally responsible for others as well.”