Nikoleta "Niki" Pita was just 16-years-old when doctors in her native Greece delivered a potential knockout punch. She had injured herself in training and was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), which her doctors told her would end her budding boxing career and dreams of representing Greece in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Her doctors didn't realize that she may have been down, but not for the count…
A DREAM DEFERRED
"I was way too young to give up on my dreams," said Pita. "I was never going to give up boxing....I thought 'I will find a way. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month or next year. But one thing is certain. I will be a boxing champion one day.'”
"I was way too young to give up on my dreams."
Initially, after her diagnosis and recommendation that she quit boxing, Pita was devastated. She felt a combination of anger, sadness and helplessness about not being in the boxing ring. With her strong belief that the doctors in her country were wrong, she focused on "turning pain into power."
After a year of visiting doctors from all over Greece, Pita's team doctor informed her and her parents of a physician who would be attending an international medical conference that was to be held in Athens. Without a second thought, and with her medical records in hand, Pita and her parents went to the medical conference in hopes of speaking to that physician.
PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF
The physician they sought out was Stony Brook Surgery's Chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD, FACS. Dr. Tassiopoulos, now also the Chairman of the Department of Surgery, met with Pita and her parents and explained that TOS is an injury that is more often seen in certain athletes, including boxers, and that the symptoms vary depending on which structures (nerves, veins or arteries) are being compressed.
Dr. Tassiopoulos proposed thoracic outlet surgery to Pita as an option to release or remove the structures causing the compression. He offered her that fighting chance she was seeking when he told her that most athletes who have the surgery can return to full activity within three to four months from surgery.
Pita and her parents were told that if they travelled to the United States, she could have the surgery in three weeks at Stony Brook University Hospital.
"I couldn’t believe what I was hearing," said Pita. "I couldn’t believe that I was finally going to find a way. I said yes to the surgery, with no second thought....My parents trusted Dr. Tassiopoulos but most importantly, they trusted my vision."
POST-OP
Pita, who had never been to the U.S. before, arrived in New York on August 31, 2014 and had her surgery the next day at Stony Brook University Hospital. Doctors Tassiopoulos and Thomas V. Bilfinger, MD, ScD, (then professor of surgery and director of Thoracic Surgery) performed the procedure. When Dr. Tassiopoulos visited her after the surgery, Pita remembers looking at him and saying, “Dr. Tassiopoulos, now I will become a champion.”
“Dr. Tassiopoulos, now I will become a champion.”
A week later, Pita and her parents returned to Greece. Pita looks back at the surgery as a milestone of her boxing career that "helped me to become a better, stronger, and wiser version of myself." She started training again as soon as she got back home. When she began competing again, Pita was often seen expressing her gratitude to Dr. Tassiopoulos and Stony Brook University Hospital by sporting a Stony Brook baseball cap and Stony Brook Medicine t-shirt.
"To be precise, the Stony Brook hat was never missing from my bag," said Pita. "This hat reminds me of what I've been through. It reminds me at times when I want to give up, to push myself a little harder. This hat is more than a lucky hat."
After devoting all her energy into her goals, and not accepting giving up as an option, in May 2015, Pita won the bronze medal in the U18 world championship in Taiwan, just a matter of months after her surgery. Dr. Tassiopoulos' successful procedure, and Pita's unwavering determination, had her back on a path to fulfill her dreams.
Pita's first attempt to compete in the Olympics was in 2016, but she didn't qualify. Undeterred, she then focused on the 2020 Games. What followed was an impressive list of accomplishments:
- 2016 to 2021: National Champion (Greece)
- 2018: Bronze medal at European Under 22 Championship
- 2019: Fifth place at the Under 22 World Championship
- 2019: Second place at the World Cup held in Russia
- Several other medals at European and World tournaments
When the Covid-19 pandemic shut most of the globe down, Pita faced cancelled competitions, challenging training conditions and, ultimately, the postponement of the 2020 Olympics to July 2021. The qualification matches for the 2020 Games were also postponed. A year later in Paris, Pita was finally able to compete to qualify.
After winning her first two fights, Pita faced a crucial third match. The top six boxers in her category would move on to the Tokyo Olympics. In a tough-fought match with Italian boxer, Rebecca Nicoli, Pita would lose on points and finish in seventh place, just missing out on her dream of representing Greece in the Olympics.
FROM THE BOXING RING TO THE COURTROOM
Today, in 2024, ten years after her dream-saving surgery at Stony Brook Hospital, Niki Pita still boxes every day, but is currently not competing. She is a trainee lawyer for the well-known Greek law firm, Pappapolitis and Pappapolitis, which specializes in corporate, commercial and real estate law.
When asked about the transition from boxing to law, Pita believes boxers and attorneys have many similarities, counting adaptability, discipline, strategy and analyzing complex situations among the common factors. She also says that "critical thinking is essential for both."
"Stony Brook saved my career, saved my dream."
Pita says her dream of making the Olympic team has not ended, but is on hold as she focuses on completing her education. And, as she is considering attending graduate school in the U.S., she says, "the dream of boxing in the U.S. is still alive and could become reality under certain conditions. To be able to box and complete my master’s degree in the U.S. at the same time, would be a dream come true."
When Pita isn't boxing or studying law, she is very active in the volunteer organization, Aurora, which supports patients with leukemia and other related blood diseases. Aurora, whose goal is to make leukemia and other diseases 100% curable, appointed Pita its first ambassador...another opportunity for her to use her ever-present strength and determination to fight for something in which she believes.
As advice for those facing physical and other challenges, Pita, true to her ever-present positivity and determination, says "Yes, sometimes life gets hard, but we have to keep in mind that tough times never last, tough people do."
Pita and Dr. Tassiopoulos have stayed in touch, and she plans on paying him a visit when she returns to the United States later this fall. In a story written after her surgery in 2014, Pita said "Stony Brook saved my career, saved my dream." A sentiment, and gratitude, she still expresses to this day.
The Stony Brook Medicine Department of Surgery is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. Niki Pita's story is just one of a multitude of examples, over five decades, of our surgeons changing and saving lives with their unparalleled skill, innovation and dedication to providing the highest quality surgical care to all of our patients.
Thanks to Niki Pita for providing photos for this article, and for working around the 7-hour time difference between Greece and New York to provide details and information for this story.