Margaret Elenis Siklas, an entrepreneur and married mother of two who opened a pair of Nassau County wellness centers and play areas for young children, even while facing down an incurable breast cancer diagnosis, succumbed to the disease at a Manhattan hospital on Tuesday. She was 34.
A former special education teacher and dean, Elenis Siklas, of Franklin Square, became an inspirational figure on social media in recent years as she documented her debilitating medical journey while continuing to fundraise for those with a similar diagnosis.
“She was a very headstrong person. Very opinionated, and she never took no for an answer,” said her younger sister, Katerina Elenis, 32, of Bayside, Queens. “She lived her life very fully and tried to not listen to negative people. She was always very positive. Very happy, silly and funny.”
A memorial service was held Friday at the Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Corona, Queens.
Glen Oaks native
Margaret Elenis was born and raised in Glen Oaks, Queens, the middle of three children to Antonios Elenis, 62, and Elisabeth Elenis, 61, who together operated a family-owned plumbing business.
After graduating from Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows, Margaret Elenis attended Baruch College for two years, where she played on the school’s basketball team, before transferring to Queens College, earning a bachelor’s degree in special education.
She would go on to teach special education, and later become a dean, at William Cullen Bryant High School in Astoria for seven years.
In 2014, she married Vasili Siklas, and together they had two sons, Konstantino, 9, and Alexandro, 4.
When Elenis Siklas was 28, nearly three years after the birth of Konstantino, she was diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer.
But a year later, after changing her lifestyle — eating healthier and taking a high dosage of vitamins — the cancer went into remission without any chemotherapy or radiation, her sister said.
Shortly thereafter, Elenis Siklas began to notice she could no longer take Konstantino to their favorite indoor play area because the food there didn’t fit into her now-healthy diet.
In 2020, she and her sister opened Oh My Goodness Kids, in Garden City, which she described to Newsday in 2023 as a “sanctuary where everything is healthy for kids … a safe space here we could promote a better lifestyle.”
Pregnancy complications
Elenis Siklas became pregnant for a second time in 2020 but the cancer quickly returned in a much more aggressive form, creating major complications, family members said.
Doctors delivered Alexandro at 30 weeks “because I wasn’t going to make it,” spending a month going back and forth from the treatment center to the NICU, Elenis Siklas told Newsday.
At the time of Alexandro’s birth, Elenis Siklas had already been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, her sister said.
Even while continuing to battle cancer, Elenis Siklas was determined to grow the business, opening a second location in Port Washington and expanding to include drop-off programs, as well as cooking and yoga for older children.
“Yes, there’s a negative to getting cancer, but this is my opportunity,” she told Newsday at the time. “I chose to pursue a path where I know I’m doing something for the future.”
Thinking of others
Last April, even as her health continued to deteriorate, Elenis Siklas established Ball4Life, a basketball fundraiser for women and mothers battling breast cancer. The group’s second annual event is scheduled for next month.
“She was a force. She had an unbreakable spirit and never took no for an answer,” said Irene Candela, 38, of Port Washington, Elenis Siklas’ cousin. “A lot of people always talk about what they want to do or what they wish would happen. But she made anything happen that she wanted to happen … She never wanted help or to accept anything from anyone. She wanted to help everyone else.”
As news spread on social media of Elenis Siklas’ passing this week, a flood of friends and customers took to Oh My Goodness Kids’ Instagram page to share stories and describe her as an “inspiration” and a “warrior” who constantly lifted the community’s spirits.
Along with her husband, two children, sister and parents, Elenis Siklas is survived by a brother, Emmanuel Elenis, 37, of Malverne, and several in-laws.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to Ball4Life, located at 25-18 50th St. in Woodside.