Local boy granted wish to swim with dolphins
Rocco Bellino, 6, of Cecil Township, shows off pictures and souvenirs from his Make-A-Wish trip to Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla., where he swam with dolphins, as his mother, Melissa, looks on. Rocco, who suffers from several heart conditions, was nominated for a wish when he was 2.
Rocco Bellino, 6, of Cecil Township, kisses a dolphin during his Make-A-Wish trip to Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla., in May.
With all that 6-year-old Rocco Bellino and his parents have had to endure in his short life, the Cecil Township family deserved to celebrate.
By the time the youngster was 2, Rocco had undergone three open-heart surgeries in attempt to correct several congenital heart conditions.
Prior to his birth, Rocco’s parents, Tom and Melissa, were faced with several difficult decisions, including whether to terminate the pregnancy or let fate take its course.
“We didn’t know what was wrong,” Melissa said. “It wasn’t until he was born that they were able to make diagnoses.”
Three diagnoses to be exact. Rocco was born with transposition of the great arteries, where the two main arteries are switched; hypoplastic left heart syndrome, where the left ventricle of the heart is severely underdeveloped, and several holes in his heart.
“They didn’t know what to do with him,” Melissa said.
Melissa said the holes proved to be blessing, allowing oxygenated blood to freely flow throughout the heart and mix with unoxygenated blood. He had his first surgery at 10 days old to insert a shunt, his second at 3 ½ months to remove the lower veins in his heart and the final surgery at around 13 months to remove the upper veins.
“There is no blue (oxygenated) blood that goes into his heart. It goes straight to his lungs,” Melissa said. “He is a miracle.”
Somewhere in the midst of doctors’ appointments, surgeries and stays at Children’s Hospital of UPMC or Pittsburgh, Melissa said Rocco was nominated to receive a wish from Make-A-Wish Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Melissa said the call was both a shock and a learning experience.
“When they called me (to tell her Rocco had been selected), I told them, ‘No, no, no. He’s fine. He’s not dying,” Melissa said. “I thought wishes were only granted for terminal children.”
A common misconception about Make-A-Wish is that the foundation provides wishes only for dying children. Instead, the foundation fulfills wishes for children living with life-threatening medical conditions, according to a news release from the foundation.
Melissa and Tom decided to postpone Rocco’s wish until he was old enough to pick for himself.
“We wanted this to be his. We didn’t want to encourage him to pick something,” Melissa said. “Every year after his birthday, they would call and ask if he picked a wish. So after he would blow out his candles, we would ask him if he had a wish. When he was 4, he said he wanted some Doritos. This year, he said he wanted to fly.” So Melissa contacted the Make-A-Wish team, and volunteers were sent to the Bellino home to help Rocco choose a destination.
“They brought out all these coloring books, and the second he saw a dolphin, that was it,” she said. “He wanted to swim with dolphins.” For five days in mid-May, Rocco, Melissa, Tom, and their two older children, Anthony and Annabella, were treated to a fun-filled family vacation with admittance to four Orlando theme parks.
“They sent us to Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica,” she said.
Rocco said he got to kiss and ride a dolphin and feed a stingray and a sea lion.
“They feel slippery and rubbery,” he said of touching a dolphin. “They are my favorite sea animal!”
Rocco’s excitement about his wish was still evident as he showed off a token of the trip, a stuffed dolphin he named Hutch.
As they watched him play, both Tom and Melissa said they were thankful for the opportunity.
“This has been a celebration of what we’ve been through,” Melissa said.