Residents Turn Out in Force at Bone Marrow Screening

The first of several benefits for , a Plainview stricken with cancer, was a huge success on Friday, drawing about 300 visitors and garnering about 140 donors, organizers said.

The event, held all day at the headquarters on Old Country Road, was combined with an effort to benefit a Northport 7-year-old, who is afflicted with a similar form of cancer.

The information is put in a nation-wide data base that attempts to match a donor to a cancer patient in need.

Gia Gangemt, a student at Northport's Norwood Elementary School, is the daughter of Giorgina Boudourakis and Greg Gangemt, who were at Friday's bone marrow drive. Scores of volunteers from were on hand to take basic information from prospective donors and to swab the mouths of those eligible.

The hospital's volunteers are coming to the aid of Giorgina and her daughter. Giorgina works at Plainview Hospital. So does Plainview Firefighter Jason Tavel, who helped coordinate the event at the firehouse.

Spencer Reis is a Plainview-JFK freshman who is in need of a bone marrow transplant. Spencere and Gia are both being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York.

 See our story about thehere.