A Big Roar for Max and Katy
By Jack Graves
(Aug. 27, 2009) The Roar for a Cure carnival at East Hampton Indoor Tennis Saturday afternoon drew a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 to raise money for pediatric cancer research and for the family of Katy Stewart, a 10-year-old who was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer in April.
 Steven Henry
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Richard Plotkin of Amagansett, whose 6-year-old grandson, Max, was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma on the eve of his fourth birthday, and who, with the help of local teachers and coaches, put the event on under the aegis of the Max Cure Foundation, said Monday that “everyone’s saying it was unbelievable. The feedback we’ve been getting has been extraordinary. We haven’t done the final tally yet, but it looks as if we’ve grossed more than $300,000, which is wonderful for a first-time event.”
Max Plotkin finished two years of chemotherapy treatments in July, his grandfather said. “He appears to be cancer-free,” he added. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
Max was at the carnival, as was Katy, the daughter of Jim Stewart, a longtime health teacher and wrestling, soccer, and tennis coach at East Hampton High School. Her mother is Brigid Collins, an assistant principal at the Montauk School.
Katy made it even though three-quarters of her liver was removed in an operation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City nine days before.
“She was determined to be here,” her father said as the model Christie Brinkley embraced his smiling daughter, who was in a wheelchair.
“She’s got a little wrestling in her,” said Ralph Naglieri, one of Mr. Stewart’s colleagues, who, with Debbie Mansir, helped mobilize coaches and teachers on the East End on Max and Katy’s behalf.
“Kids have more courage and strength than any of us,” said Ellen Cooper, a retired East Hampton teacher and field hockey coach.
It was Rebecca Rubenstein, whose father, Scott Rubenstein, is East Hampton Indoor’s managing partner, who first suggested earlier this summer that the Stewarts be included in the Plotkins’ Roar for a Cure carnival fund-raiser. Max and Katy’s families have since become close.
“Richard Plotkin has put in a lot of effort,” Mr. Stewart said. “We were fortunate to meet him through Scott.”
“It was so moving to see her and Katy,” Mr. Plotkin said of Ms. Brinkley later in the week. “Forget about her beauty outside. She’s beautiful inside, you can tell.”
The Stewarts are to receive 25 percent of the carnival’s net proceeds. The remainder is to go to the Max Cure Foundation, set up by Mr. Plotkin and his son, David, following Max’s diagnosis, to fund a pediatric cancer research facility at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Mr. Stewart said that Katy was to have returned to Sloan-Kettering on Tuesday for chemotherapy and monitoring, and that she would continue to be treated at Sloan-Kettering’s “day hospital” periodically in the next several weeks.
He also said that he intended to return to teaching and coaching at East Hampton this fall, and that Katy would return to school too, in Sag Harbor, where they live.
Katy’s grandfather Walt Stewart, who coached Riverhead High School’s wrestling team for 35 years before retiring in 1986 and who is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, said of his granddaughter, “Her attitude is terrific. She’s tough — a tough girl. What I call determined. There’s one other guy involved with it, and he’s upstairs. That’s the whole story.”
“It was,” Mr. Plotkin said, “a very special day.”