Events

Brain tumor walk comes to Wantagh

Local family to participate in honor of departed patriarch

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Jones Beach State Park will play host to Long Island’s first brain tumor walk on Saturday, an event that is expected to draw at least 1,000 people.

The walk will be hosted by the National Brain Tumor Society. It has hosted events throughout the country, including New York City for nearly 50 years. Kristina Knight, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the success of that walk showed the Long Island was in need of its own.

Knight said there is already a lot of buzz about the event, with numerous medical and radiology facilities signed on as sponsors. She said the purpose of the walks are to raise awareness of the disease and money for the organization, but also to connect people coping with similar situations, whether it is survivors or family members who have lost a loved one.

“It’s probably the largest support group they will ever find in one location on one day,” she said. “This is an amazing place for them to come together.”

Among the people in attendance will be a team honoring Cal Kitay, a North Wantagh resident who died of brain cancer two years ago. The Kitay family has previously participated in the walk in New York City, and now will be able to honor their beloved patriarch closer to home.

“It’s one of those diseases that is not that well-known,” his daughter, Amy Kitay, said, “but it could be very deadly.”

Her father was diagnosed with a brain tumor three years ago. The first tumor was removed, though it affected his motor skills and forced him to retire. It grew back and claimed his life at 66.

A well-known breast cancer walk is held at Jones Beach every October, and Kitay said she would like to see to brain tumor walk mirror that success and become an annual event.

She is expecting at least 10 people on her team for Saturday, including family, friends and neighbors. Their fundraising goal for the first year is $3,000.

Knight said the organization does not set minimum fundraising goals, but does provide each individual or team with support, including the ability to set up a fundraising page on its website.

Every dollar helps, she said, because more funding is needed for research. “We have not seen new treatments in over 30 years for this disease,” she said.

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