DUTCHTOWN GIRL, 2, SPENDS BIRTHDAY WITH MARROW DONOR WHO SAVED HER

DUTCHTOWN -- Charlie Nicole Hartis doesn't yet realize how much her life depends on Tom Poulakos, but her family does.

Charlie, who celebrated her second birthday Saturday, is alive today because of a bone marrow donation that Poulakos made one year ago. The two met this week for the first time, about 15 months after the transplant.

"He doesn't like to be put on a pedestal, but I look at a man who saved her life," said Amanda Hartis, Charlie's mother. "I realize that he saved her life when no other person in the world could."

Charlie first got sick when she was just six weeks old. Doctors at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis didn't know what caused her illness until three weeks later when they diagnosed a genetic disease called famile eurithrophagocitic lymphohistiocytosis or FEL.

Neither of Charlie's parents are affected by the disease, but the combination of their genes cause it. Both Amanda and Brian Hartis have recessive FEL genes that become dominant when combined. The couple lost a child before Charlie was born, but didn't know until now what caused the death.

Once Charlie was diagnosed, the only hope of a cure was a bone marrow transplant. But finding a donor could be impossible, so the Hartises started a search with the National Bone Marrow Registry.

"Some people never find a match, others take years," Amanda said. But Charlie had a match by January 1995, about four months after the search began. "They said that we probably couldn't get any closer if he was a relative."

Poulakos attributes the almost perfect match to his "super" blood, but hasn't been able to donate during the last year because of a medical problem.

"I've always told my wife that I have super blood," he said, adding that he tried to donate blood products as often as possible. "It wouldn't matter if it was an adult or a child, I don't think of myself."

The bone marrow transplant happened quickly once a donor was found. It took about three weeks for all the tests to be completed, and Poulakos could have halted the process at any time.

While he was undergoing physicals and blood tests, Charlie had to finish radiation and chemotherapy. Just days before the transplant, her bone marrow had been destroyed by chemotherapy.

Once Poulakos had donated his pint of marrow, it was given to Charlie through a catheter. The marrow flowed into her bones, creating new blood cells and platelets. It also created a new blood type -- she was born with O positive and now has A positive blood. It's the same blood type that Poulakos carries.

Despite all the similarities between Poulakos and Charlie after the transplant, neither family could have any direct contact beforehand. But that didn't stop Poulakos and the Hartises from communicating their fears and hopes about the transplant. Both wrote letters to each other before the procedure was completed and started the search for identities a year later.

"I'm just glad he didn't have to die to save her life," Amanda said.

Because of strict rules governing medical donors, neither Poulakos or the Hartis family could give the other information about themselves or where they lived.

"I was told it was a girl who was zero years old and given her name," Poulakos said, adding that he first thought Charlie was not her real name. All the Hartises knew about Poulakos was his age.

Now that they've finally met in person, it seems like they've known each other forever, both families say. Poulakos, his wife, Renee, and their 4-year-old son, Tommy Jr., traveled from West Allis, Wis., to meet Charlie and her parents.

Poulakos said he was afraid of the first meeting because he wouldn't be what the Hartises were expecting, but that wasn't the case.

Even Charlie likes him and she rarely goes to strangers or men unless its her dad or grandfather, Amanda said.

The two families plan to visit again in Wisconsin over the July 4th holiday.