This story has so many layers. The Discepoli family has been through more this past year than most will EVER go through their entire life.

Backstory 💙

Jessica and Joe spent years and years trying to conceive. When Jessica became pregnant with Luca they were ecstatic. Luca was born premature and with serious complications. He was immediately taken to the NICU and days later he underwent surgery to have a trach placed.

After a series of testing they learned Luca had an extremely rare genetic condition called DiGeorge Syndrome. This is where you are born without a Thymus. The thymus is where T-Cells that fight infections go to mature and grow, without a Thymus most babies will not survive past 1 year old. The common cold can be too much for their frail and nonexistent immune systems.

Because of Luca's nonexistent immune system he needed to be isolated from the outside world. Him and Jessica have spent his entire life within the walls of hospital rooms, isolated from friends and family.

Luca recently was given a Thymus transplant, a newer procedure in the medical world but has shown great success. Surgery went great and his body has started to grow T-cells. Jessica and Joe were finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Luca was on his way to finally being discharged from the confines of Cincinnati Children's. But then Saturday happened...

Jessica left the hospital to grab some fall/halloween decorations from home. She was up in her attic when she fell through the floor and landed on the concrete floor in the garage. Luckily she was on the phone with Joe when he heard the crash. Jessica was not responding so he called his mother to go check on her.

Jessica was found going in and out of consciousness. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, with bleeding to the front of her brain, fractured skull, and a fractured T11-T12. She spent a week in the ICU and where they are keeping her sedated to allow her brain time to heal. She then went to a rehab facility but all she could think about was getting back to Luca.

She finally convinced the doctors that she could do outpatient rehab. Jessica spent most of her time at the hospital with Luca, only to leave to do rehab. As much as Jessica needed to rest for her brain to heal, she couldn’t leave Luca.

Luca was finally able to home right before Halloween. Since then he has been admitted to the hospital for short stays here and there when he got a cold but his new Thymus has been busy creating t-cells and he has overcome each cold with flying colors!

Jessica still suffers from headaches but overall is doing well. They are in talks with doctors about removing Luca’s trach in the near future. The light at the end of the road is shining bright and we can’t wait to see where life takes Luca.

We spent 3 months getting to know the Discepoli family and fell in love with Luca. He has so much of the world to explore since leaving the hospital and we’ve enjoyed watching him explore at little at a time. We held a Do Good Chocolate Walk in downtown Loveland, a Monster Mash raffle, and our facebook fundraiser. We were able to raise a little more than $8,000!

We are hoping to meet Luca, Jessica, and Joe soon and shoot their story. We have a surprise in store for them :) so check back for their video soon!

To follow along Luca’s journey join Luca Rising page on facebook.