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Courtney Perkes

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 9/22/09 - blogger.mugs  - Photo by Leonard Ortiz, The Orange County Register - New mug shots of Orange County Register bloggers.

Judiel Ennis gave a quick cheek swab of DNA in 2012 and then completely forgot that she could someday be asked to donate bone marrow.

So two years later, when an email with the subject line “You are a match” arrived, the Garden Grove resident ignored what she assumed was spam from an online dating site. When her cellphone rang with an out-of-state number, she never listened to the voicemail.

Finally, DKMS, an international donor agency, tracked her down at work to tell Ennis that 1-year-old identical twin girls needed her marrow.

In November 2014, Ennis and her husband flew to Pittsburgh where surgeons extracted marrow from both hip bones.

With her part done, Ennis constantly wondered about her little matches. On Wednesday, she finally got the chance to meet them, when 3-year-old Zoey and Zayne Espayos flew into town with their parents from their home in Canada to say thank you.

“I don’t feel like anyone should be thanking me,” said Ennis, 32. “What I did was what I hope anyone else would do. All it takes is a swab to save a life and I got to save two.”

The twins’ parents, Mark and Reina Espayos, called the emotional meeting a family reunion.

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“She’s the second mom now,” said Reina Espayos, 39, wiping away tears. “She gave life to my daughters.”

BLOOD DISORDER

The twins were born Aug. 30, 2013 after they were diagnosed in utero with a deadly genetic blood disorder called alpha thalassemia. The condition reduces the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout the body.

Both Mark and Reina, who are originally from the Philippines and moved to Manitoba in 2010, carry the gene, giving their offspring a 25 percent chance of inheriting the disorder.

Mark Espayos said they were told they could terminate the pregnancy or spend a few minutes with the newborns before they would likely die.

By the time Reina was six months along, the twins’ hearts began to fail.

Their doctors decided to try what they described as a bold plan to give the twins blood transfusions inside the womb. They used an ultrasound machine to guide a needle into their umbilical veins to inject red blood cells.

After their birth, the girls received frequent transfusions, sometimes as often as every three weeks, but doctors said they would need bone marrow transplants.

Older sister Zachi, now 13, was a match.

Zoey received the transplant first, after turning 1, but quickly rejected her sister’s marrow. Terrified, the family waited for word of another match for both girls.

“I thought it was the end of the world,” Mark Espayos, 39, said. “(The doctors) said, ‘We’re going to Plan B, which is looking all over the world for a donor.’”

That donor turned out to be Ennis, who took a week or two to track down.

Zoey received a transplant in November 2014, with half of Ennis’ marrow frozen for Zayne. Zayne’s transplant followed in April 2015.

With the transplants a success, the twins are now cured and do not require anti-rejection drugs.

“The doctor said treat them like any other normal kids,” Reina Espayos said. “They play, sing and dance.”

According to Cancer Care Manitoba, which treated the girls, only a few cases of bone marrow transplantation for severe alpha thalassemia patients have been reported worldwide. There are no known cases of identical twins with the disorder who have survived after in-utero blood transfusions and bone marrow transplants.

BECOMING A DONOR

Ennis, whose parents were born in the Philippines but raised her in Orange County, was working at a now-defunct Irvine mortgage company when she participated in an office bone marrow drive through DKMS.

“There aren’t enough potential donors for a patient in need of a bone marrow transplant,” said Brittani Luce, donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS. “It’s like finding your genetic twin.”

When the agency contacted her two years later, she was newly married to Nolen Ennis. She was scared because she’d never been hospitalized or undergone surgery. She had lots of questions about the donation process.

“I was thinking someone is going to open me up and sell my organs on the black market and that is the end of me,” Ennis said.

She recovered quickly with minimal pain. She was told there would be a one-year waiting period before contact could be made with the recipients’ family, if they were willing.

Earlier this year, DKMS gave Ennis contact information for the Espayos family, though at first she was hesitant to reach out. She found photos of the girls on Facebook and learned more about their story.

Then she sent a message and waited nervously for a reply from Reina.

“She just thanked me for giving her daughters a chance,” Ennis said. “She said we’re forever family. We’re always going to be connected.”

Since then, they’ve been in constant communication.

After spending Wednesday together, Ennis is taking the family to Disneyland today. She’s hosting a party for them to meet her extended family before they return to Canada on Sunday. Her new employer, LoanDepot, presented a $30,000 donation to DKMS in recognition of Ennis’ gift at the lender’s Lake Forest office.

Ennis, who has a 2-year-old son, said she’s eager for the girls to feel more comfortable with her as the week goes on. She says the experience of donating has helped her appreciate life more.

“If I were ever to have a daughter, Zoey Zayne would be her name,” Ennis said.

Contact the writer: cperkes@scng.com 714-796-3686