MANHASSET, N.Y. — If you’re making up a list of all of the things that Anastasia Pagonis is, you might want to sit down and sharpen that pencil. She’s a bright, beautiful, exuberant 17-year-old. She’s a social-media darling, with more than 2 million followers on TikTok. She’s a World-Record-holding swimmer in spite of having lost her eyesight at a young age. She’s a 2020 Paralympic Gold and Bronze medalist. She’s a proud Greek American. She’s a sister, a daughter, a friend. She’s a brilliant advocate for change when it comes to people’s perceptions of the visually impaired. But beyond all of this, she is to her family one thing: “She’s my hero,” smiles her dad, Peter, whose family has owned and operated beloved Louie’s Manhasset Restaurant since 1963.

“From the time that she was little, she was always so much fun,” recalls Peter of his daughter, whom the family affectionately calls “Tas.” “She was the personality of the family. My son [Eli, 21] is a little more like my wife [Stacey], a little more reserved. But she’s more like me—she likes to be the center of attention and that’s just the way she is. That’s Tas.”

Early on, Anastasia also demonstrated attention-grabbing athletic abilities. “She was a really good soccer player, and she played lacrosse, too,” he notes. But it was while Anastasia was participating in soccer that her parents noticed that she seemed to be experiencing some difficulties playing the sport. “Around age 10, we started to notice things,” states her father. “We saw her having some struggles with soccer, like kicking the ball and stuff. She didn’t notice anything; she thought everything was fine. But we didn’t.”

A trip to a retinal specialist soon after backed up the Pagonis’s concerns, confirming for them that their daughter was indeed losing her central vision due to a genetic disease. Although hearing that diagnosis was certainly daunting, the doctor made a suggestion that would ultimately change the course of young Anastasia’s life. “The retinal specialist suggested that we get her into swimming,” Peter says. “Apparently, people with central-vision loss do well with swimming. So we were like, ‘Okay, let’s give it a try.’ ”

Given her past athletic prowess, Anastasia quickly took to the sport, practicing at a local aquatics center. Things went, well, swimmingly for a couple of years, until she was approximately 14 years old. “Then all her vision went,” reveals Peter. “We started noticing that her vision was getting really bad and then she said, ‘I can’t see anything anymore.’ She got diagnosed with autoimmune retinopathy on top of everything; that’s when her vision was lost.” 

Needless to say, the news was most gut-wrenching to Anastasia. “That’s when she got out of the pool completely,” he shares. “She was in a really bad state of depression. It was a lot of staying in bed and crying all the time. She was like, ‘What is my life worth right now? I can’t see anything, I can’t do anything.’ So we just told her, ‘You are loved by God and made perfectly in His image. You don’t have to swim to do well in life. You can do other things.’ But those were really hard times.”

In addition to leaning on their faith, the family wisely sought guidance from a mental-health professional, as well. “We had some psychological help from a great woman,” notes Peter. “It really just became about us giving [Anastasia] all of the love that we possibly could. And then, one day, I think it was about 10 months into her depression and her acceptance of losing her vision, when she said, ‘I want to get back into the pool.’ So we went, just me, her and my wife.”

Unfortunately, the return quickly went awry. “Oh, it was horrible,” Peter remembers. “She was zig-zagging all across the pool. She didn’t know where she was. She was hysterically crying. She kept saying, ‘I’ll never do this again!’ But the next day, she said, ‘Dad, let’s try it again.’ So we tried it again and after a half-hour, she said, ‘I’ll never do this again!’ And then, the next day, she said, ‘Okay, let’s go try it again,’ ” he laughs. “And she just got on with it.”

Next up was finding a coach willing to work with Anastasia. “Nobody wanted to take on ‘the blind girl,’ ” allows Peter. “But finally, we got a call back from a coach—Mark Danin, from Islander Aquatics—and we never looked back. She started working with him and he has been nothing less than a godsend. He’s one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met.”

The combination proved a magical one, and within two years, Anastasia developed into a force to be reckoned with. “One day, Mark said to me, ‘Your daughter is really gifted. I think she can make times at the Olympics. I think she could medal.’ We were all like, ‘Are you serious?’ We knew she was a really good swimmer, but we just thought this was something that was gonna keep her occupied. And he said, ‘No, I really believe she can make some noise over there.’ ”

After an impressive appearance at the World Games in Texas, “She got on people’s radar,” he states. “She did really well. Then she got the invite to the [Paralympic] trials and at the trials, she broke the world record for the 400-meter in the morning and then broke it again that night. And we were like, ‘Wow, she is kicking some butt!’ ” An invitation to compete in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo quickly followed. “It was nuts,” he marvels.

While the Covid crisis derailed the hopes and careers of many athletes, Peter feels that the postponement of the 2020 Summer Games actually worked in Anastasia’s favor. “I think it was a godsend,” he shares. “I don’t think she was at her peak then like she is now, swimming-wise. It getting pushed back a year gave her that extra time to develop even more as an athlete. And she chopped the wood, man. The amount of swimming that girl did was incredible.”

And ultimately, paid off. Because only one parent could accompany Anastasia to the Games this summer, Peter had to witness his daughter’s momentous wins just like everybody else—on television, “which sucked!” he laughs good-naturedly. “But no, it was awesome. It was huge and it was just so surreal. The next day, when I went to go watch her compete in the 50-meter free[style], I was with my brother. And right when we turned to the NBC station, this woman starts saying, ‘And Anastasia Pagonis….’ And my brother looked and me and said, ‘Dude, that is your daughter!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I think I’m beginning to understand this now.’ ”

After making such a splash at the Paralympics, Anastasia is currently fielding commercial offers, as well as spending time with her beloved guide dog, Radar, and continuing to spread her positivity on social media. “She doesn’t want anyone to have this stigma of, ‘Oh, you can’t do anything if you’re blind.’ She’s like, ‘I want people to look at me and say, wow, blind is beautiful! Yeah, it’s not going to be easy, but I’m gonna be okay.’ And she wants to get back in the pool, because she wants to go to [the Summer Paralympic Games in] Paris in 2024. She does so many good things; I am really proud of her and what she’s done in her life.”

As is the Manhasset community. “It’s just been amazing,” Peter raves. “The outreach I’ve gotten from friends and family and customers, I’m really overwhelmed by it. People here just have your best interest at heart, and it’s so moving how they support my daughter. It’s more than I could ever have dreamed.”

Follow Anastasia Pagonis @anastasia_k_p on Instagram and TikTok and Louie’s Manhasset at www.louiesmanhassetrestaurant.com.

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