Hampton Bays Community Rallies To Support First-Grader Battling Cancer

For most of her short life, Antonella Quintana has been a happy and healthy child.

The Hampton Bays first-grader comes to school every day with a smile on her face, enjoys her classmates, loves to draw and color, play, and listen to her teachers read books.

Her happy world was turned upside down just a few weeks ago, when, after several days of not feeling well with unexplained symptoms, her mother, Liliana Quintana, received the news every parent fears: Her 6-year-old had cancer.

Last month, Antonella was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or T-ALL. She has masses in her lungs and brain, which have caused vision problems, one of the first symptoms that made her family aware that something was not right.

Antonella’s mother said that while her young daughter’s prognosis for survival is good, T-ALL is a rare and aggressive blood cancer that requires a very long treatment plan, anywhere from months to years.

Antonella has been receiving treatment at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, where she is hospitalized indefinitely.

Her mother took a break from sitting by her daughter’s side at the hospital last week to talk about the ordeal, and what a challenge it has been for her and the family.

Quintana is a single mother, originally from Argentina, and cleans houses for a living. She and Antonella live in Hampton Bays along with Quintana’s mother, sister and brother-in-law.

She described Antonella as a “healthy girl,” who rarely gets sick, even with a common head cold. Two weeks ago, she said, Antonella was emotional and cranky, crying frequently, and uninterested in leaving the house for any kind of excursion or entertainment, which her mother said was rare.

“We always try to do fun things with her, because she lives with only adults,” she said. “But she didn’t want to do anything.”

Antonella complained of headaches and had trouble seeing, saying her vision was blurry. After a series of visits to the pediatrician and eye doctor, without any satisfactory answers or explanations, Antonella ended up at the emergency room at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where doctors informed Quintana that her daughter had a mass in her chest and compression on her brain. A blood test revealed that she had leukemia.

“I was in shock,” Quintana said. “I said, no, this is not happening.”

Antonella was airlifted to Cohen from Peconic Bay, while her mother reeled from the information overload that was coming at her. “It felt like I was dreaming,” she said. “I couldn’t accept it.”

Antonella is in stable condition now at Cohen, receiving treatment, but the family is only at the start of what doctors say will be a long road to recovery, one that could last two years.

In the meantime, Quintana is left to figure out how she can manage work and retain her clients so she can continue to pay her rent, bills and other living expenses. She said that challenge is even harder as a single mother, without the income of another parent to rely on.

A GoFundMe page, “Support Antonella’s Fight Against Leukemia,” was set up by Priscila Putzulu, Antonella’s adult sister, to help support the family, and has so far raised more than $30,000.

That financial support will be key, especially as the family heads into the summer months, when Quintana said she typically makes the bulk of her earnings for the year.

Antonella is receiving more than financial support from the greater Hampton Bays community. Her first grade teacher, Diane Hutchison, recently took a trip into Queens to visit Antonella, bringing her get well cards made by her classmates. She spoke about Antonella, and how the students in the class miss her and are eager for her to return to school.

“Antonella is a sweet little girl,” she said. “She has such a great personality. She has lots of jokes and she is great friends with all of the kids in the classroom. She loves to learn. She’s always talking all the time about how she needs to study because she’s going to go to college just like her older brother and sister.

“We miss her,” she continued. “We miss her so much. The kids in the class ask about her, and made cards for her. I brought them in when I saw her and I read them to her. She was so excited to see what all the kids drew for her and wrote to her.”

Hutchison added that she brought several of Antonella’s favorite books during the visit as well — the “Llama Llama” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog” series are among her favorites.

Quintana is hopeful that her daughter’s recovery progresses and goes smoothly, so she can get back to school and be with her friends, and return to all the other activities she enjoys. Antonella takes weekly ballet classes at Hampton Bays School of Dance, and sings with the children’s choir at Iglesia Cristiana Nueva Jerusalén in Riverhead. Her favorite season is summer, because she loves swimming in the bay at Meschutt Beach.

For now, she spends time in the hospital watching some of her favorite TV shows and movies, like “Encanto,” “Paw Patrol” and “Frozen,” and she also plays with Play-Doh and Slime.

Quintana admits, with a deep sigh, that it’s hard to explain to a child so young why she is sick, and what is happening to her.

“It’s so hard to explain to a little one that, in one day, her life changed,” she said. “It’s not easy. Your heart is broken. I never thought I’d have to go through this.”

She said that Antonella has made one request repeatedly during the time she’s spent in the hospital.

“She told me, “Mommy, I want to go to Disney World,’” she said. “And I said, ‘When you’re okay, I’m going to take you.’ I don’t know how. But she keeps asking, so I say, ‘Yes, Antonella, we’re going to go.’ And she’s so excited.”