http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1723812/jewish/Chaya-Lipshutz.htmChaya Lipshutz
The Kidney Matchmaker
By Miriam Karp
A determined woman from Brooklyn is a dedicated matchmaker, but her matches can take an unusual, formidable amount of encouragement and legwork to pull off.
No, she’s not like the infamous matchmaker Yenta from Fiddler on the Roof. While Yenta was known to smooth over defects—“He’s handsome! He’s tall! . . . that is, from side to side!” there’s no room for bluff or poetic license with Chaya’s matches. Chaya’s efforts, in fact, will come to fruition only after thorough and exacting examination.
Chaya Lipshutz is busy day and night, bringing people together. She feels her matches are bashert, or destined, meant to be. But she doesn’t ask the typical matchmaker questions, such as height, hobbies, profession. Instead, Chaya will inquire about her client’s blood type and health history.
Chaya does not bring people together for marriage, but to save lives. Her couples will not meet under the chuppah, but in the operating room.
Chaya is known throughout the world as the uniquely dedicated, unstoppable Kidney Matchmaker.
A friendly, gregarious young woman from Borough Park, Brooklyn, Chaya has grown what started as a fairly casual response to an ad some eight years ago into unending volunteer work, ’round the clock, from her small Brooklyn apartment. Her main work tools are the Internet, phone, and passionate focus. She receives and sends calls and e-mails from all over the globe, and posts on various websites and Yahoo groups, using many resources to make her precious matches—matching a living kidney donor with a person in need of a kidney transplant to survive.
Sometimes a life mission seems to find us, or we grow into it, step by step. Chaya did not declare, “I want to be a kidney matchmaker when I grow up.” It all started rather simply.
“Back in 2003 or so, I once overheard someone crying, because her husband needed an organ transplant and couldn’t get one.
“The following year I noticed an ad asking for a kidney donation. It said, ‘Help save a life—fulfill a once-in-a-lifetime mitzvah—modern, fast, easy process for donors.’ That sounded pretty dramatic. ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘how many opportunities would I have do be able to a once-in-a-lifetime mitzvah . . . and to save a life too!’ I remembered the crying woman, and decided to look into the donation procedure. The ‘modern, fast, easy’ description put me at ease, at least enough to consider it.
“So I contacted the hospital, and they sent me the information. It didn’t seem like such a big deal. I wasn’t scared, and I decided I’d try to donate one of my kidneys. It takes a while to find a compatible match and for the timing to work out. After several attempts to donate that didn’t work out for various reasons, I donated a kidney in September 2005.
“Afterwards, I did have the satisfaction of my donation, but I kept seeing more ads. I wanted to do more. I felt like I hadn’t done enough. What about all these other people who needed a kidney?”
Chaya was not content to sigh and figure that someone, somewhere, somehow, would take care of this problem. She certainly had done a lot, giving up part of her body, a vital organ—a tremendous altruistic act. But she didn’t rest on her quite substantial laurels. With straightforward determination, she took steps to do what she could.
She realized the Jewish Marketplace Expo was coming to the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, an enormous gathering of thousands of people. Chaya remembers thinking, “I’ll have a booth, and give out flyers; a lot of people can be educated about kidney donation. True, it would be an expense, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.” New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind got wind of Chaya’s big thinking, and arranged to have thousands of her flyers printed.
She credits a previous job with giving her the basic know-how to get started. “I had worked for a Jewish nonprofit organization for many years. We occasionally hosted booths at events, which is where I got the idea.” Chaya grew up watching her mother, “who was always doing things to help, and going out of her way for people.” Chaya now devotes much of her time and energy to giving others a new lease on life.
“The expo helped build awareness, and got me going. After that experience, I handed out packets of information on kidney donation at a Chinese auction and other community events.” Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Assemblyman Dov Hikind featured her in their community publications. Chaya has been proclaimed a Health Hero by Prevention Magazine, and was honored by Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes.
Things started snowballing. Someone read about Chaya, who knew someone from National Public Radio, and Chaya was featured on This American Life, an NPR show with over one and a half million listeners. This vast publicity led to a significant number of kidney donations and kidney chains.
She started posting on websites, posting flyers, working to get the word out about the need for donors. As there is no national registry for living donors, the chance of finding living donors is increased by the kind of diligent networking Chaya excels at.
Chaya is often asked: Aren’t people at greater risk if they donate, and then have only one remaining kidney? She is ready, with quotes from medical experts.
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Topic: Chaya Lipshutz, The Kidney Matchmaker! (Read 3108 times)