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HERALD $1.00 $1.00
Kennedy cheers for Homecoming
Girls’ soccer gets its start
Pirates celebrate a victory
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Vol. 24 No. 40
SEPTEMBER 30 - ocToBER 6, 2021
Local boy fights rare disorder cerebral palsy, autism or other known disabilities. He underwent several tests, but it wasn’t A Bellmore family is raising until the family decided to map awareness of their 6-year-old his DNA that they found someson’s rare genetic disorder — it’s thing conclusive: a mutation in so rare, his mother said, that her the KAT6A gene. The gene son is the first to receive the makes the KAT6A protein, diagnosis in New York state. which helps control the producWill Reitzen has KAT6A syn- tion of proteins from other drome, a rarely identified genet- genes. A change in the KAT6A ic mutation that causes develop- gene can cause a range of health mental disabilities. and developmental Re c e n t a dv a n c e problems (see box, ments in genetic Page 9). r e s e a r c h h ave “Pretty much allowed the mutation every child has a sigto be identified, leadnificant speech ing to the same diagimpediment,” Reitnosis for roughly 300 zen said of those people around the who have been diagworld since 2020. nosed with the disorWi l l ’s m o t h e r, der. Aimee, has helped “I give Aimee a lot publicize the disorof credit — she got Will Reitzen der since he was an actual diagnosis diagnosed in 2016. based on blood She had a hand in creating the work,” said Carol Blum, a MerKAT6A Foundation, which helps rick resident for 35 years who families around the world who was an early-intervention theraare dealing with the syndrome pist for Will, and attends and by connecting them to resources supports the Reitzens’ walk they need. every year. “There’s a lot of misThe Reitzen family will host diagnosing out there.” an annual fundraising walk at The first case was discovered Wantagh Park this Saturday. in 2013 in Washington, D.C., Contributions can be made at according to Reitzen. When the https://donate.kat6a.org/event/ Reitzens learned of Will’s diagkatwalk-2021/e343921. nosis, they were told he was only Aimee said she started notic- one of 10 children in the world to ing a delay in Will’s learning and have KAT6A syndrome. “I felt fine motor skills early on, but he didn’t quite fit a diagnosis of Continued on page 9
By ANDREW GARcIA agarcia@liherald.com
Andrew Garcia/Herald
Street Fest returns Anthony and Mia Vecchione won a pair of goldfish at a ball-toss game during the Bellmore Street Fair, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Bellmore JFK celebrates its sports history in Hall of Fame By ANDREW GARcIA agarcia@liherald.com
On Saturday, John F. Kennedy High School was home to both current students, celebrating the Homecoming game, and dozens of alumni, representing decades of the school’s sports history. There was a pride-filled and nostalgic gathering of more than 100 in the courtyard, marking the completion of a project years in the making.
The JFK Athletics Hall of Fame made its debut, giving many of the former athletes a chance to relive the highlights of their noteworthy careers. One by one, 53 honorees from as far back as the class of 1969 were inducted. And there was perhaps no better place to hold the ceremony than the Lorraine Poppe Pavilion, named after the school’s popular former principal, who retired in 2018 and died the following year.
The idea for the Hall of Fame was hatched under Poppe’s influential leadership. Phys. ed. t e a ch e r a n d c o a ch B r i a n DeGaetano and Poppe’s successor, Gerard Owenburg, brought the concept to reality. DeGaetano’s running list of the school’s best former athletes dated back only to 1994, but since May he had been researching and contacting sports stars from earlier Continued on page 4