Potential bone marrow donors register to help LI mom

Thespina Pontisakos watched potential donors register at her Greenlawn church to see if their bone marrow was a match for hers and nearly started to cry.

"Not because I am sad," said Pontisakos, seated behind the registry table at St. Paraskevi Church Sunday. "But because I am so happy. . . . So many people are doing so many good things for me."

Pontisakos, 52, a mother of two from Cold Spring Harbor, has myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a disease similar to leukemia. Her survival depends on a bone-marrow transplant.

Jair Thompson, program specialist and recruiter for Be The Match Registry, said that by 5 p.m., about 60 people had registered by giving a swabbed sample from inside the cheek. These will go to a repository for testing, and it will take about four to six weeks to determine if there is a match.

The samples also become part of the Be The Match Registry, which has more than 10 million donor candidates.

"Even if they are not helping me, they may be helping someone else," said Pontisakos.

Be The Match Registry, the new name for the National Marrow Donor Program, has no match for Pontisakos, but the likelihood of one increases with each person who registers, according to the Registry group.

Because the markers used in matching are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity, according to Be The Match.

The Rev. Dimitrios Moraitis, senior pastor at St. Paraskevi, said the Greek Orthodox church is involved in at least two blood drives a year, but this is the first bone marrow registry event he could recall. He said the church is active in many outreach efforts and this "drive fits the personality of the parish."

Even if a match is not found from Sunday's drive, potential donors could still provide a sample or help by joining.

To register, go to at www.bethematch.org/join/helpthespina and enter the promo code helpthespina.

Iris DeVita, 41, of Huntington swabbed the inside of her cheeks and handed the sample to a volunteer with Long Island Blood Services.

"I know my church is in need," she said, adding that she does not know Pontisakos. "This is such a nice thing to do. It could be me or my family. It could be anybody."