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What’s INSIDE
DECEMBER 25 - 31, 2025
Vol. 36 No. 52
HERALD PERSON oF ThE YEAR Masha Benitez
Masha Benitez makes most of ‘a fighting spirit’ From wish recipient to wish maker By Jeffrey Bessen
The Year of the Snake was celebrated at the L.B. Public Page 5 Library.
Masha Benitez gave back to her “community” way before she could even spell the word. At age 5, she was leaving an orphanage for special needs children in the Russian city of Izhevsk when she communicated with her adopted mother, Michele Quigley, asking her if it was OK to give her clothing and shoes to the others. The communication part was a challenge, at first, because she didn’t speak English, and Quigley didn’t speak Russian. “She’d kept her things in a cubbie,” Quigley said, recalling the sight of the young girl picking out the items each child would like. “She just took a few pieces of memorabilia.” From that charitable act, which am so led to many years of collecting money — more than $185,000 for the Makegrateful for A-Wish Foundation — to her work the experience as a dog trainer and her tenacity in overcoming multiple surgeries, includto be her ing a double-lung transplant in 2023, mother. Benitez has been named the 2025 Long Beach Herald Person of the Year. MIChElE QuIglEy “I just thought it was a great story,” mother Colleen Murphy, who nominated her Long Beach neighbor, said. “She’s such a doer. She’s got a fighting spirit and doesn’t let her health get in the way.” Now 22 years old, Benitez works part-time as a physical therapy aide with Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group in Lynbrook. “What makes me so tough? I don’t think that’s the right question,” Benitez, who stands 4-feet-9, said. “What makes me so resilient? I think what makes me so resilient, and if someone was put in my shoes, it’s no different. I’m just navigating what’s in front me.” Benitez underwent more than 13 hours of surgery during a life-saving double-lung transplant in May 2022. She was initially placed on the waiting list for the procedure in March 2020. By her count, she has undergone 10 surgical procedures, including five ear surgeries and two open-heart surgeries, and
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60 competitors ran and swam in the 45th annual Page 11 biathlon.
Residents had a Halloween blast at the Fall Festival in Page 16 Kennedy Plaza.
For BrEAKING NEWS go to liherald.com
had her gall bladder and appendix removed. “You just learn how to navigate your life, just like when you are put in a very tough situation,” she said. “You learn how to navigate and become stronger, because I’m not a superhero.” Some might think otherwise. At age 5, she began raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the charitable organization that grants wishes for children enduring a critical illness. She then became a recipient of a wish by going on a Disney cruise a year later. “She had drawn a picture of swimming in the sea next to a boat and she never, never had been swimming or on a boat,” Quigley said, explaining how the idea for the cruise was hatched. “That was when I was no longer scared of doctors,” Benitez said about the Make-A-Wish trip, recalling her days in the Russian orphanage when she had to be held down to have blood drawn, and noting that she was promised candy that she never received. Her fundraising has become legendary in Long Beach, teaming up with Pete Meyers and Kevin McCarthy, the founders of the Long Beach Polar Bear Splash, and Bright Eye Beer Continued on page 2 Courtesy Michele Quigley
Long Beach resident Masha Benitez has overcome multiple health problems to raise over $185,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.