Merrick family learns to ‘brave the storm’ by overcoming disease

Music has been like medicine for Tara Notrica throughout her 12-year battle with mast cell disease. While Notrica, 52, of Merrick, was treated with immunosuppressant drugs, chemotherapy and high-dose steroids, she mentally persevered by listening to singers such as Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.

Notrica said that her daughter Samantha Horowitz, 13, also brightened her spirits by singing for her whenever she asked. Samantha, an eighth-grade student at Merrick Avenue Middle School, has her own YouTube channel, Sammi Singz, and recently recorded her first original song, a ballad about overcoming obstacles called “Brave the Storm.” The song is dedicated to her mother.

“My mom has been sick for a while, so I wanted to write a song about never giving up,” Samantha said.

She teamed up with her vocal coach, former “American Idol” contestant Robbie Rosen, of Merrick, who wrote the music and shot a music video teaser for her YouTube channel. Notrica said that she is proud of her daughter and sees the song as an anthem of hope that could relate to any conflict someone faces.

Notrica’s mast cell disease began with intermittent bouts of anaphylaxis that she and her doctors initially identified as isolated allergic reactions. For example, when she was on one of her first dates with her now-husband, Barry, her throat closed after she drank wine.

People with mast cell disease have sensitive immune systems that constantly release chemical mediators, causing a number of chronic symptoms. “In simplest terms, you’re kind of allergic to everything,” Notrica said.

She was not diagnosed with the condition until April 2011, despite having had it since her early 20s. “It’s a nightmare,” she said, adding that her symptoms worsened when her son Jared, now 17, was born in 2000, and, after Samantha was born, they appeared two to three times a week.

As her mother spoke, Samantha looked through a photo album that she and Jared created for their parents’ 20th wedding anniversary. “This is so cute,” she said, pointing to an old photo of her parents with her as a child.

When Samantha was younger, Notrica’s side effects from her treatment caused her to lose weight at an alarming rate and grow physically ill. “Music was huge for us,” she said.

“She would sing a lot,” she added of Samantha. “I would ask her to sing. This is gonna make me cry,” Notrica said, choking back nervous laughter, and Samantha began humming a song.

Samantha sings in her eighth-grade chorus and the choir at Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, was recently accepted into All-County Chorus and is performing a level-five solo this year in the New York State School Music Association competition.

In addition to taking voice lessons with Rosen, she has also studied with her teacher Barbara Brand for four years. “[Music] is a big part of my life,” she said.
After she was diagnosed, Notrica said, “We tried to keep the family as normal as possible.” She didn’t want her illness to affect her kids’ abilities to participate in activities in and outside of school.

In July 2015, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Notrica had a stem cell transplant, in which a patient’s own stem cells are used during treatment to slow the growth of cancerous cells.

Notrica said that she is recovering and is still being treated with daily chemotherapy, weekly allergy shots and compassionate-use drugs — newer medicines that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
“We’re gonna fight,” she said, and Samantha dramatically belted the lyrics of “Brave the Storm,” before giggling and smiling at her mother.

A sample of “Brave the Storm” is available on YouTube and Samantha intends to release it on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and Shazam.