Event

The Stem Cell Drive at Maliotis Cultural Center on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 from 9 am to 4 pm was a huge success! The idea behind the drive was to raise awareness for Andrea Demetrious Kalliaras. Andrea is a St. Nicholas parishioner Andrea who recently received the devastating news that she has a rare form of Leukemia that can only be cured by a stem cell transplant. Persons of Greek or Cyprot ancestry may be more likely to be a match.  Andrea (49) and her husband Constantinos (Gus) are proud parents to two young teenagers, Sophia and Nikolas.  We are praying for the generosity of others and sponsored this community drive to find her and other patients a donor.  A match is determined by a simple cheek swab that takes less than 10 seconds. Be the Match and DKMS both had representation at this stem cell drive which had a steady stream of potential donors all day from among the community. We were thankful to come together for a fellow Greek-American and potentially save lives. Swab kits can be mailed anywhere. The search for Andrea’s donor continues.

Learn more about Andrea’s story here.

Watch a video about Andrea here. 

Follow Swab4Andrea on facebook.

Read more about Andrea and Maliotis’s contribution in an article here .