Leukemia survivor Scott Novorr (left) embraces his bone marrow donor, Binyomin Gewirtz, at the Gift of Life Marrow Registry Celebrating Life NYC event. (Gift of Life)
A stranger gave Scott Novorr his life back.
“This ultimately is a story of a person who didn’t consider religion or race or political beliefs, this is a person who just wanted to do something to help a stranger,” Novorr said. “For me it’s about the good of humanity and if you can find an opportunity to help somebody else selflessly without looking for the spotlight, to me that’s what life is all about.”
Novorr met the man who saved his life for the first time on stage, with roughly 400 sets of eyes on them. At first, the two men just embraced. The first thing he said to the stranger was thank you.
“Since the day of the transplant he has been praying for me and my family every single morning when he wakes up, which I thought was just incredible,” said Novorr, who has been cancer free since a few months after the transplant.
On Feb. 20, at Gift of Life’s Celebrating Life event in New York, Novorr and his bone marrow donor, Binyomin Gewirtz, had an emotional first-time meeting.
Since Novorr’s bone marrow transplant in November of 2018, he had hoped this day would come. When he could, he put in an application to meet his donor. Due to medical anonymity laws, donor-recipient pairs are required to wait at least one year before meeting.
And the waiting began. The wait lasted a few months, until last month when Novorr received a call from the Gift of Life Marrow Registry letting him know that not only did his donor want to meet him, but that the organization was going to cover the costs associated with attending an event where they could meet.
Novorr at his low point, with a compromised immune system as part of the process to prepare for the transplant. (Courtesy)
There was an instant connection, a comfort as if they had known each other for their entire lives, Novorr said.
The man who saved Novorr’s life is a 40-year-old father of six named Binyomin Gewirtz. Gewirtz is a Gift of Life event and campaign coordinator who is also pursuing a degree in religious studies. He joined Gift of Life’s registry in 2003 at a Lakewood, New Jersey, event.
“One of the blessings in my life is having had the opportunity to donate bone marrow and to help save Scott’s life,” Gewirtz told Gift of Life. “It is a real privilege that I was called upon to donate. It is not about me; I am not a hero. We are put in this world to make a difference.”
This is the second time Gewirtz has donated bone marrow to a blood cancer patient. He has also donated stem cells.
“The process by which my donor gave his marrow sample was not just a blood draw,” Novorr explained. “It’s a very invasive, painful procedure, where he had to be hospitalized for a couple of days and had to miss work and did this for somebody that he didn’t know anything about. He had no idea that I was a father of four or that I’m Jewish or anything at all. He just knew that he wanted to help somebody.”
Novorr is a 48-year-old father of four. He was born and raised in Overland Park. Novorr grew up attending The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah where he became a Bar Mitzvah. His children now attend B’nai Jehudah as well.
Novorr and his wife, Jennifer, with the donor marrow minutes before it was infused. (Courtesy)
The annual Celebrating Life event honors donors, recipients, volunteers and the many people who support Gift of Life’s mission. Annually, a lifesaving donor is introduced to their transplant recipient for the first time. Not all donor-recipient pairs meet, for various reasons, but Novorr always hoped to meet the man who gave him a ticket to the rest of his life.
The transplant
“In a small IV bag really is the ticket to the rest of your life,” Novorr said.
Over the course of an hour an IV dripped into Novorr’s body and another waiting game began, to see if it would work. That life-saving bag looked like a bag of blood, he said.
He received his transplant at The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City with his wife and four children by his side.
That was the beginning of a happy ending, after minutes had felt like days waiting to hear if they’d found a match.
Novorr has a rare strand in his DNA, which made it nearly impossible for him to find a match. He compared his chances of finding a match to finding a needle in a haystack. There were three potential matches in the world who could save his life. Three. Most people have hundreds of potential matches.
His donor did not know he was the best match of only three potential matches who could save Novorr’s life when he agreed to donate.
“I remember the day I received the call that we had a close match, and that he was willing to donate,” Novorr told Gift of Life. “I immediately called my wife and almost broke down in tears. It’s the ultimate selfless act.”
To receive his marrow transplant Novorr had to be admitted to the hospital and in isolation for five weeks. He was given high doses of chemotherapy to kill off all of his white blood cells wreaking havoc in his body, essentially shutting down his immune system in the process.
Then, he was ready for the transplant.
He said waiting for the donation to arrive was nerve-racking, to say the least. A courier took the sample from the hospital to the airport. A snow storm delayed the transport. The clock was ticking the entire time, as a donation is only viable for a limited amount of time.
Over the course of six to eight weeks following the transplant, the donor’s transplanted cells began reproducing healthy, cancer-free, white blood cells in Novorr’s body.
He feels that his wife has been as selfless as his donor, taking care of their family without regard for herself for the past six years.
He also feels blessed to have had the quality of care that The University of Kansas Health System can provide “in his backyard.” He has met many people who had to uproot their lives for treatment.
The Journey
(Left to right) Leukemia survivor Scott Novorr, Gift of Life CEO and Founder Jay Feinberg, and bone marrow donor, Binyomin Gewirtz, at the Gift of Life Marrow Registry Celebrating Life NYC event. (Gift of Life)
Novorr was diagnosed in February of 2014 with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Novorr was not symptomatic and felt great.
“I just really found out by chance that I was sick,” he said, “I don’t know what compelled me to go when I did, but I did for some reason and had I not, I think things could have ended much differently.”
He went in for a routine physical, after not finding the time for one in years. The doctor examined him and said he looked great. He was told to get some blood work done on his way home and to come back in a year.
The next evening he received a call that his white blood cell count was roughly 10 times what it should be, so the doctor wanted to re-run his lab work. His routine physical turned into a diagnosis of a fatal form of leukemia, if left untreated.
Several medications have been developed over the past decade that are allowing people with such a diagnosis to live long, normal and productive lives.
“For the first couple years emotionally I felt pretty optimistic knowing that there were other medications on the market we could potentially try.”
“I’m burning through these medications and I knew that if I stopped taking the medications I wouldn’t survive,” Novorr said.
While the medications worked to control his cancer, he was experiencing side effects that in many cases were undocumented and potentially fatal. He simply could not tolerate the treatment that most people could.
“Over the course of five years since diagnosis I went through one medication after another, unable to tolerate it,” he said. “Which is when in 2018 the doctors decided that we really had no other treatment options other than a bone marrow transplant.”
Bone marrow transplants are risky. It was even more of a risk for Novorr due to his intolerance to medications.
Norvorr said now that he’s feeling better his family is still focused on making as many memories as possible.
Novorr and his wife, Jennifer, leaving the hospital after nearly six weeks. (Courtesy)
“So we take that extra vacation or stretch our days just a little bit longer with the kids and we just look for ways to get the most out of every day and every experience,” Novorr said, “We just don’t take anything for granted.”
Scott and Jennifer Novorr have been married for 21 years. They have four children, Jack (20), Sophie (17), Tate (14) and Lilah (10). Sophie has been nominated for Student of the Year through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for her fundraising efforts for the organization.