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

WAYNE, NJ — Halainah Grace Napolitano was a straight-A student. She loved art, musical theater, and dancing.

Napolitano loved all kinds of dance: Ballet, hip-hop, tap, and jazz. She was a student at Stagelite Academy in Pompton Lakes. She loved to draw, was picked for the Windows Art Program at Ryerson Elementary School, and played the saxophone.

Napolitano, 11, of Wayne died "suddenly and unexpectedly" Monday after contracting a virus that entered her bloodstream and affected her heart, her mother, Deanna said on a GoFundMe campaign she started to help pay for the funeral. Nearly $20,000 was donated to the campaign within hours of it going live.

"We lost our precious daughter and the entire reason for our existence," Deanna Napolitano said on the GoFundMe page. "I can't breathe without her."

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.

"Oh my Lainey Bug, you have gone where daddy can not follow. My heart aches knowing I will never again hear you call me daddy, or see your smiling face, or hear your infectious laughter. Looking upon your beautiful face showed me the face of a true angel from heaven," Anthony Napolitano said on his daughter's obituary page. "But I know your sufferings are over. And I shall see you again. I will love you forever. Until we meet again baby girl."

Napolitano was born in Shangrao, China and adopted by Deanna and Anthony Napolitano on Jan. 4, 2009, her obituary stated.

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.

Napolitano was a "giving, kind, caring, compassionate, old sole who cared about everyone" and loved "just about every animal you can think of," her obituary stated.

She enjoyed going to the park, the pool, taking trips to Great Wolf Lodge, and being with her family.

She went to China with her parents when they adopted her little sister, Ava, and little brother, Colton.

Napolitano "loved, cherished and watched over her sister and brother, and they returned that same love right back to her," her obituary stated.

Napolitano was predeceased by her grandfather, Sabatino Napolitano and grandmother, Linda Burger.

She is survived by her parents, brother, sister, grandmother Carmela Napolitano, grandfather John Burger, uncle Bob Burger, aunts Christine Iraci and Annmarie Chow, and cousins.

Visitation with the family is from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Good Council Church, 155 West Parkway, in Pompton Plains. A funeral Mass is 10 a.m. Friday at the church.

Memorial donations in her name may be made to Friends of Wayne Animals, P.O. Box 3701, Wayne, New Jersey 07474.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Photo: Halainah Grace Napolitano (Courtesy of GoFundMe, a promotional partner with Patch)