The gymnasium at Warwick Veterans Memorial Middle School was standing-room-only well before 6 p.m. last Wednesday, though it wasn’t for a typical middle school basketball game.

The game- between eighth-graders on Vets’ boys’ and girls’ basketball teams and teachers at the school- was held to support physical education teacher Jay Almeida, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 stomach cancer.

Fellow physical education teacher Nicholas Durand, who was responsible for organizing the event up, said that preparation for the game had been going on since December.

“He’s one of our own, and we’re all family here,” Durand said. “Vets is a tight-knit community, and so we had to think of something that was going to be meaningful and something that was going to be a worthwhile project.”

That tight-knit community showed up in full force, with Almeida saying the support he received was “overwhelming.”

Almeida was first diagnosed on September 28, though he first began feeling sick the previous November. He has continued to work through the diagnosis, and thus far has undergone six rounds of chemotherapy.

“As soon as I came in and told my coworkers what was going on with me and why I’ve been sick, why I lost so much weight, they started [saying] ‘Jay, we’re going to do a fundraiser for you,’” Almeida said. “The amount of people I’ve been in contact with my entire life who all wanted to take part and help me out in some way, it’s overwhelming.”

Almeida said that the basketball game was the third fundraiser held for him, with a cornhole tournament and spaghetti dinner the other fundraisers held since his diagnosis.

Not even the chemo treatments that Almeida has been undergoing could keep him from the court, though. He would suit up for the teachers, and ended up scoring a couple of buckets throughout the game himself.

The game was tied at 23 at the end of the first half, with a halfcourt shot from eighth-grader James Nute the undisputed highlight. However, the teachers blew the game open with a 19-0 run to begin the second half. A spirited comeback from the students- who got the game to within three with two minutes left- came up short after Vets girls’ basketball coach Jim Garcia hit a couple of threes in rhythm. The teachers won by a final score of 60-47.

The students vs. teachers game was only Vets’ second since becoming a middle school, with another one held in 2018. The turnout, though, was one that could portend a new school tradition, and Almeida said that he hopes that this game could kickstart annual students vs. teachers games in the future.

“Seeing those kids out there having a good time means a lot,” Almeida said.

In addition to the price of admission, tickets to enter raffles, a half-court shot contest, a progressive half-court contest- in which a participant must make a layup, free throw, top-of-the-key 3-pointer and halfcourt shot within a set time limit- and full-court putt contest all helped raise money for Almeida’s treatment.

The amount raised was not disclosed , though Vets principal Jeffrey Goss said he knew it was “above expectations.”

The road ahead for Almeida is not an easy one. He’s already had a surgery in between the game and publication of this article. In less than a month, he will have surgery to remove his stomach entirely, as the cancer has progressed to the point where it cannot stay.

“I’ve just got to learn how to survive and eat again,” Almeida said.

Still, though, seeing the immense amount of support behind him has helped give Almeida a boost to keep fighting through it all.

“The amount of people who will reach out, whether it’s a handshake, a hug, a phone call, a text, or just showing up to something like this to support me, I’m so appreciative of it,” Almeida said. “The people who have donated, the companies that have donated, the businesses that have donated, it’s just an overwhelming feeling. It really is.”