WEEHAWKEN AND BEYOND — “We were very fortunate,” Real Housewives of New Jersey star Kathy Wakile said amidst the buzz of the crowd gathered at Masina Trattoria in Weehawken Friday night. “My daughter survived her brain tumor, it was benign, and we got a clean bill of health. But for a lot of people it doesn’t work out that way.”
Wakile, her husband Rich, her sister Rosie Pierri, her son Joseph, and many others from the reality television show came to the waterfront restaurant to help raise money for the National Brain Tumor Society during a fundraiser hosted by Dining Out New Jersey.
Wakile and her family were on the beach one day when her daughter Victoria, then only 10 years old, passed out inexplicably. Doctors soon discovered the young girl had developed a benign brain tumor.
“I was sitting at my desk at work the year after my father died when my mother called,” Pierri recalled beside the impromptu red carpet set up in view of the Manhattan skyline for the event. “I didn’t know what to say when she told me the news, except, ‘Please give it to me, God. Help me make this kid okay, because she’s my life, I mean it.’ ”
Victoria did in fact end up okay, and is set to graduate high school and move on to college this coming year.
At first, Wakile was hesitant to share her daughter’s story with the public since it was an event that was so deeply emotional and traumatic for the family, she said, and she was afraid of any possible negative affect the reveal might have on Victoria. But once she realized the good that could come of it, she made the decision to go for it.
“Some good things really do come from reality T.V.,” Wakile said. “We’re real people living our real lives, and I’m so proud, and so honored, and really humbled that our story touched someone and that now our voices can be leant to raise awareness to finding a cure for brain tumors.”
To hear more of what Wakile and Pierri had to say, and for more details on the fundraiser, read next weekend’s edition of The Weehawken Reporter here on the web. And for a recap of this Sunday’s episode of the Housewives, and for other news of Weehawken, Hoboken, and neighboring New Jersey towns, come back here to hudsonreporter.com Sunday night. — Gennarose Pope
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