In these days of daily stress and world unrest, good news shines through as a bright beacon, especially when that good news happens to good people and it serves to renew our faith even when bad times never seem to end. The "MIRACLE" of the recovery and emergence from a rare debilitating illness that could have affected not only the quality of life of a young Domenico, but ever of life itself for him, offers up the power of the strength of prayer, of faith and of determination of his loving parents.
Much has already been written about the medical breakthrough in treating the affliction. Australian neurosurgeons Simon Harvey and Jeffrey Rosenfeld developed a new technique. They have pioneered a new approach to remove the a hard to reach Hypothalamic Hamartoma (HH) tumor. In February of 2003, Professor Jerry Rosenfeld had introduced this surgical technique to a team of surgeons at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. At this time, Domenico's family traveled to Phoenix for a consultation with Professor Rosenfeld and the TEAM of doctors at BNI. After the consultation with the team the boy's parents, Dominico and Anna, were told that their son was an acceptable candidate for the surgery and they decided to proceed. In June of 2003, the family returned to Phoenix and on June 5th young Domenico was sent into surgery. The operation, led by Drs. Harold Rekate and Robert Spetzler, took close to six hours to perform and young Domenico seems to have come through it fine. He is considered to be a surgical success and a very sweet boy.
The doctors who have achieved this were an integral part of the steps that led to the eventual success of the operation on young Domenico. But the love and determination of his parents and their willingness to do whatever was necessary to help their son, is a story of faith and belief and a hope that radiates almost beyond reality into the spiritual.
Put yourself in their place as a parent of a child, who for the last six long years was deteriorating before your eyes. Imagine how you would feel watching for the inevitable seizure to come, which wrecked his body uncontrollably. Imagine through all those years watching, as his illness grew worse. Could you imagine what this did to the parents and their two girls who would watch their brother suffer? Try to run a household and a business, on Broadway, at the same time and always seeming to fail your child. It had to be unbearable. Put yourself in the place of the child, imagine waking up in the arms of your parent in a room that's been torn apart with little or no memory of what just happened. What if your daily activities were suddenly interrupted by firs of rage, uncontrollable seizures and blackouts? Victims of HH have experiences similar to these.
Domenico's family wished to offer their support and knowledge of the steps to take for all others in a similar situation, to fight this evil illness. It is their way of giving back for all the support they received in their quest to save their son's life.
