A VERY HAPPY FAMILY
A student needed medical care and a home. His teachers adopted him.
When first-grade teacher Jenna Riccio found out one of her students needed emergency surgery in September 2019, she decided
to visit him at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center as he recovered. She knew he had recently been moved into foster care, and thought he’d appreciate seeing her.
“Just thinking about him being at a hospital without his family there, I was just sad for him,” she said about her student,
Nathaniel “Nate” Innocent Riccio, who was then 7. “I just wanted to be a familiar face.”
Nate was born with sickle cell anemia, a red blood cell disorder that can lead to other serious medical concerns, such as infections and chronic pain. While treatments can relieve pain and prevent complications,
there is no cure.
Due to complications with his sickle cell anemia, both of Nate’s legs had already been amputated below his knees, along with his left arm and several fingers on his right hand. He has also suffered from liver and kidney damage, among other health issues.
CONTINUE READING + SEE PICTURES
