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A Friday night win for the Mules
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Vol. 32 No. 40
oCToBER 2 - 8, 2025
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Child loss leads to change Parents donate $250K for research on a rare liver disorder “He was given a good prognosis, and then time went by and things got worse.” When former Malverne resiThe staff at NYU Langone dent Jason Brescia and his Hospital-Long Island supported wife, Patricia, found out that the Brescia family while their she was pregnant with their son was in the neonatal intenfirst child, they were ecstatic. sive care unit, helping them to In 2022 they announced the secure a grant to afford the testpregnancy during a ing that revealed trip to Disney and the ILFS-1 diagnolearned they were sis. having a boy durThe newbor n ing a gender reveal fought through party. ILFS-1 symptoms, Their son, Jason including edema, Michael Brescia Jr., kidney failure and was expected to be irreversible organ bor n in 2023, but damage. ar rived early on “The doctors Christmas Eve in told us that there JASoN BRESCIA 2022 via an emerwas no existing gency abdominal co-founder, treatment and d e l i v e r y a t 2 7 Jason Michael Brescia essentially his liver w e e k s i n t o t h e Foundation was never going to pregnancy. function properly,” Following variJason Brescia said. ous setbacks unrelated to his After eight weeks, the infant premature birth and after in- died from the condition on Feb. depth genetic testing, the baby 17, 2023. was diagnosed with a rare autoILFS-1 is incredibly rare, s o m a l r e c e s s ive d i s o r d e r prevalent in less than one in a known as infantile liver failure million people, according to a syndrome, or ILFS-1. 2012 journal of the Society for “He was struggling with cer- Inherited Metabolic Disorders. tain things that normal prema- Typically diagnosed in early ture babies wouldn’t struggle infancy, the disorder has a high with,” Jason Brescia, 39, said. Continued on page 12
By MADISoN GUSlER
mgusler@liherald.com
W
Christine Rivera/Herald
An off the rack sale success Alexa Salamone of Valley Stream helps organize clothes for sale at her mother-in-law’s house during Malverne’s village-wide garage sale on Saturday. See story, more photos, Page 3.
‘Wheel’ win of a lifetime
Gabriel Berkowitz amazes on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ By MADISoN GUSlER mgusler@liherald.com
Gabriel Berkowitz, 27, has always enjoyed words. His mother told him that when he learned to read, words would often distract him while he was doing other things. In fifth grade, Gabriel represented the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, in West Hempstead, at the Long Island Scripps Howard News Service Spelling Bee at Old Bethpage Middle School. “I’ve always been this way,” Berkowitz said. “I’ve always loved words, was obsessed with reading and word games.”
The West Hempstead native recently became a “Wheel of Fortune” champion, after appearing on a Sept. 9 episode of the game show and walking away with prizes valued at $86,560. “I’ve been watching ‘Wheel of Fortune’ since I was a child,” Berkowitz, who’s now an account executive at a theatrical advertising agency, said. He shared that when he was growing up, episodes of ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Wheel’ were often on in the background. “Truthfully, my dream has always been to be on ‘Jeopardy,’” he added. “I’ve been trying out for over ten years.” In 2020, Berkowitz decided to audition for Continued on page 7
e never wanted to stop fighting, because he fought so hard.