RedHawks provide lift during trying times

Meininger shoots Elks past Alter in overtime
2/13/12
Wright State still has hopes of hosting
2/13/12
Area athletes going on to play in college
2/13/12
Trotwood state football team being honored
2/13/12
Vandalia QB signs with Butler
2/13/12
> More sports headlines

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer 10:29 PM Friday, March 19, 2010

In the middle of March Madness, here’s a story of true hoop kindness.

It involves Dayton attorney Nick Gounaris, his wife Molly, their two tiny sons and the entire Miami RedHawks basketball team.

Nick and Molly had been expecting the birth of their twin boys in late May, but early this month — while at Kettering Medical Center — Molly’s vital signs began to fail and she nearly died.

Rushed to Miami Valley Hospital, she gave birth to the boys just 25 weeks into her pregnancy:

George weighed 1 pound. Alex weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces.

The boys were put in Miami Valley’s neonatal intensive care unit where they’re expected to remain for two to three months.

Then, on top of all that stress, came another bombshell.

“Because of a misdiagnosis, we learned that my wife also suffered from a molar pregnancy that contained cancerous cells,” Gounaris said. “The cells had traveled to her lungs and abdomen and she needed immediate chemotherapy and more treatments were expected to last 3-4 months.”

In a topsy-turvy world suddenly full of fear, uncertainty and loneliness, the couple needed some kind of respite. Something that brought comfort and familiarity and maybe a smile.

It came with an expected phone call as they were visiting their sons in NICU. They were told there was someone to see them in the Atrium at the Berry Women’s Family Center.

“I went down there and there was the entire Miami basketball team,” Gounaris said. “Coach (Charlie) Coles had found out what was going on and he had the team bus stop in Dayton before it went on to Cleveland for the (Mid-American Conference) tournament.”

A Miami grad, Gounaris is a big RedHawks fan and a regular at Millett Hall. Now Coles and his team wanted to give him some support in return.

“Truthfully, I’d kind of forgotten all about the tournament,” Gounaris said. “Just four days before this, we thought we were going to lose Molly. And the next day she was going to get the first of what we figure will be three or four months of chemo treatments, so we needed a lift.

“And they gave it to us. Actually, they gave one to a lot of people that afternoon. Other patients came out to see them and talk to them, it was just a beautiful thing.

“They brought our boys two little Miami outfits. Right now both George and Alex could fit in just one outfit, but one day they’ll both be decked out in their own Miami stuff.

“The team really embraced me, gave me words of support and told me that Molly and my boys would be in their prayers. You can’t imagine what it meant to us.

“It was a real act of kindness.”

Share this article