Long Beach athletics raises for MSK kids

Long Beach High School holds a unique event called Beauty and the Beast night, where the gymnastics and wrestling teams share the gym for their respective meets, while also raising money for MSK Kids, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s pediatric program.

This year’s invitational, which was the fourth and was held Jan. 25, was in honor of Lia Esposito. All proceeds were donated in her name.

The crowd was energetic as the Long Beach cheerleaders entered the gym to the playing of the Olympic fanfare along with the Hewlett wrestling team, Bethpage, Hewlett and Oceanside gymnastic teams, and then followed by the Long Beach Gymnastics and Wrestling teams entering together.

“Our gymnastics coach brought the idea of doing this five years ago,” said Long Beach Director of Health and Physical Education Arnold Epstein. “She wanted to do a community event around athletics and promote community service, but we didn’t have a cause at that time. We realized very quickly that doing something for MSK kids would be a great opportunity.”

This year’s event raised more than $6,800 for MSK kids. To date, over $20,000 has been raised for MSK kids Cancer Center.

“The energy in the gym was electric and it was a wonderful event,” said gymnastics coach Jessica Baker. “The kids all had a wonderful time. They were very excited to be there. It was a sense of Long Beach, pride and community. A ton of the community came out a ton of administration school staff.”

On June 11, 2023, Lia began experiencing stomach pain and wouldn’t eat. She was immediately taken to the hospital for tests and imaging.  At Cohens Children’s Hospital in Queens, her family received news from doctors that no one would ever imagine hearing.

Their daughter had a large tumor on her left kidney. 

Doctors needed to surgically remove her kidney and the tumor and she needed to start chemotherapy immediately. She had to have surgery to remove her kidney because the tumor was too big and growing too fast. The surgery was difficult and she spent nine days in the hospital after surgery for recovery. After the recovery, Lia began her journey of 25 weeks of chemotherapy.

Now, she had her chemo port surgically removed and she’s officially done with treatment. Lia continues to have play dates, goes to school, and frequently does cheerleading and dance.

Epstein said the event is all about and all because of the students and community. “It’s all about our students and our community doing something great,” he said. “The kids came in during midterm week. They didn’t have to come in. But they really wanted to do it.”