Walking into the Greenport house where Bethzy Lopez lived before she lost her battle for life in October at just seven years old, candles flicker near photos of the beautiful little girl with a bright smile.
Bethzy died at Stony Brook Hospital on October 19 after fighting a genetic disorder from birth.
And now, the Greenport school district will pay tribute to Bethzy by dedicating the annual talent show in her memory. The talent show takes place on May 1 at 7 p.m. at the the district auditorium. Tickets cost $8, because had she lived, Bethzy would have been eight years old.
Ruth Yoskovich, the Greenport elementary and special education secretary who has organized the school talent show for over 20 years, had said last year would be her last show. “I had retired and hoped someone else would pick it up. But when Bethzy passed in October the principal asked what we could do for the family, and I automatically said I will do one more talent show.”
All proceeds will go to Bethzy’s family, she said.
Over the years, Yoskovich set up her service providers and home tutoring, so she knew her since she was three years old, and said the caring Greeport school community wanted to do something to honor the child’s invincible spirit.
Remembering her daughter, who loved shopping, music, Disney princesses, painting her nails, and learning, Mirta Bran said the months since she lost her have been unthinkable.
“Every day is hard for me,” she said. The wound was even more painful during the holidays: At Christmas, some friends who didn’t know Bethzy had died, brought gifts to put under the tree for Bethzy. And on Easter, every brightly colored egg reminded Mirta of her little girl, and how happy she was last year at the same time.
Carefully, Mirta displays a heart-shaped plaster handprint staff at the hospital made, soon after Bethzy died. “Her hand was still warm,” Mirta said.
Mirta and her husband have two other little girls, Lucia, 6, and Genesis, 1. Lucie doesn’t understand that her sister is gone, Mirta said. “She asks me if Bethzy has ice cream in the sky. I tell her that Bethzy’s in no more pain. She asks me, ‘Is she okay?'”
Looking around the living room at all the toys and Disney princess decorations, Mirta said while she finds joy in her remaining two daughters, “Having three children is very different. Now it’s only two. When people ask, I have to say I had three daughters, but one passed away. Now, I have my two girls, but I feel an emptiness in my heart.”
Bethzy, Mirta said, loved lemon ices and music, including Shakira, as well as Minnie Mouse.
Reflecting on one of Bethzy’s happiest memories, Sister Margaret of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate said she worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help with Bethzy’s First Communion, her parents’ wedding — and a surprise visit with Mickey and Minnie.
Her daughter, Mirta said, enjoyed being in the swimming pool while her father barbecued outside; she also loved dressing up. “Every day was a different dress,” she said.
For her last birthday, Bethzy wanted a pinata of either Justin Bieber or Ariel, from “The Little Mermaid”; Bethzy loved Ariel so much that it’s the middle name of her little sister Genesis.
Smiling, Mirta remembered how Bethzy, with her quick wit, would tease her when she couldn’t operate a smart phone as adeptly as her daughter. One day, Mirta remembered, Bethzy, without her mother’s knowledge, texted a family friend and asked him to bring her bread and a cup of 7-Eleven coffee. “He came to the door and I was surprised,” Mirta said. Her uncle, she added, loved bringing Bethzy her favorite hamburgers.
Her daughter, she said, was intelligent, and loved reading and working on her tablet. “She was disabled, but she was always happy,” she said. “She was still able to dance, to sing, to watch TV.”
Dinni Gordon, who tutors Mirta in English, said she was “stunned to see Bethzy dancing, with her long tube behind her.”
Her daughter also had a deep faith in Jesus and compassion for others. “She was sympathetic to other sick children and worried about them,” she said.
This past November 14, the day that would have been Bethzy’s eighth birthday, was unspeakably painful, Mirta said. “I was shopping with Genesis and I couldn’t even remember where I parked the car. I was in shock,” she said.
Tears running down her face, Mirta struggled to describe the last hours with her little girl. Just going to the hospital for a procedure, she said, “I never knew she wouldn’t come home.”
On her last trip to the hospital, Bethzy’s lungs failed, her mother said; despite the problems, “we still thought she was going to recover. I never expected this.”
During the last hours, with Bethzy on two ventilators, Mirta stayed constantly by her daughter’s side.
Sobbing, Mirta said she held tightly to her daughter’s hand, just as she had so many hours and days before, feeling her pulse fade until her heart stopped beating. “She was gone,” she said. “I kept waiting for her to breathe. I’ll never forget that day. No mother should ever have to experience this.”
Mirta wants to thank the community for coming together for her family in their hour of great need. “I want to thank all of our friends, and all the people who celebrated her life, especially the school,” she said. One day, students who would have been in Bethzy’s class, had she been able to attend school, came and stood outside her window to wave to her, proudly wearing name tags. Bethzy had a name tag, too. “She loved that,” Mirta said.
The nurses and doctors at Stony Brook, the many who worked together to “make special memories for Bethzy,” are all close to Mirta’s heart.
Mirta said she learned many lifetime lessons from her daughter. “She taught me to be strong,” she said. “She had a song, ‘I’m strong and I’m going forward,'” she said.
Even in the hospital, Bethzy would ask her mother if she was okay. “She’d say, ‘I’m okay, Mommy. I’m very strong.’ But it was very hard, because there were so many obstacles.”
Faith, Mirta said, has been her salvation. “The only thing that keeps me standing is knowing the Virgin Mary lost her son, Jesus. When Jesus died, Mary didn’t fall to the ground.”
Mirta said in the days after Bethzy died, even being in her own home was unbearably hard, because while she was so sick, Mirta cared for her daughter in the living room. “I didn’t want to be here, because she wasn’t here. It was very hard.”
Reflecting on her daughter’s brief but meaningful life, Mirta said, “I have many memories.”
The upcoming talent show, dedicated to Bethzy, means the world to her family, Mirta said; she hopes her daughter can inspire other young people. “You can have terrible things happen to you, but you can overcome,” she said.
While she has endured the greatest heartbreak a mother can experience, Mirta said Bethzy was her greatest blessing.
“Most of all I thank God, for giving me eight years with Betzy,” she said. “There are so many people to thank, but especially God, for this angel.”
