Lucas St. Onge has two serious conditions which only surgery could rectify.
The five-year-old has short bowel syndrome, a condition that makes it hard to absorb nutrients, and severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome, which makes him susceptible to serious infections.
But last month, the Massachusetts boy got some great news, and on his fifth birthday to boot: the surgery he badly needed would take place the next day.
He’d be undergoing multivisceral organ transplant surgery, which basically means he’d be getting a new stomach, liver, intestine, pancreas and spleen.
But as you can imagine, this amount of surgery requires some serious recovery time. So the tot was still in hospital recuperating from surgery when his preschool graduation came around.
This was a big thing as he and his classmates had “practised for weeks” for the event.
So instead, the boy’s teachers surprised him with his own personal graduation ceremony – in the Boston Children’s Hospital recovery room!
“They practised and practised songs and going across the threshold to get the diploma,” Lucas’ mum Heather told People.
“When he found out he was going to miss it, he was crushed.”
And their wonderful efforts didn’t go unappreciated.
“I’ve never seen him so excited before,” Heather told Today. “Just by his reaction, you could tell how much he loved going to that school.”
Aww! This is a sweet reminder of how kindness can make a huge difference to a sick child.
