Benefit Recital Is Saturday For Family Of Wayne Girl Who Died

WAYNE, NJ — Name a kind of dance and Halainah Napolitano loved it.

On Saturday, young girls will dance in her memory and to help her family.

Dancers from Stagelite Academy of Performing Arts in Pequannock will perform a recital benefit to raise money for Napolitano's family. Nalainah was a student at the academy. The fundraiser is Saturday at the Wayne Hills High School auditorium at 5:30 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Tickets cost $20. They can be purchased in advance or at the door.

Napolitano, an 11-year-old at Ryerson School, died Feb. 18 of complication of a viral infection. Proceeds from the benefit will be given to the family to help pay for funeral expenses.

Related: 'I Can't Breathe Without Her,' Mom Of Wayne Girl Who Died Monday

Nearly $30,000 has been donated to the family on GoFundMe fundraiser.

Napolitano did not have medical insurance when she died, her mother told NorthJersey.com. The family's insurance expired at the end of last year and was expected to resume March 1, according to the report.

Because of that lapse in coverage, the family has $45,000 in medical bills, according to the report.

Napolitano had "flu-like symptoms" and her family brought her in for medical care. She was treated for the flu, but three days later she was admitted to the hospital. She had a virus that entered her bloodstream and affected her heart, Deanna Napolitano said. Doctors tried stabilizing her several times, but could not.

Deanna and Anthony Napolitano adopted her from China in 2009.

When she was given to her new parents, she did not cry but smiled "knowing she had just been handed into arms that would love her for the rest of her life," Napolitano's obituary said.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com