Former Easter Seals poster child is ‘truly a miracle’

LIVE, LOVE and LAUGH

By JOANN JONES

Vindicator Correspondent

CANFIELD — A wall decoration hanging in the dining room of the Robert Severino family’s home in Canfield reads, “Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often.”

The person who now lives well, loves very much and laughs the most often in that household is 17-year-old Bianca Severino, a former Easter Seals poster child and “truly a miracle,” according to her parents, Gina and Bob.

After Bianca was born, doctors had told the Severinos that the “prognosis is not very good,” as she was suffering from both heart and kidney complications. They counseled the Severinos on their option to not seek treatment for Bianca and let nature take its course.

But it turned out Bianca was a fighter.

Though developmentally delayed due to medical complications in her infant years, Bianca, a sophomore at Canfield High School, is now a giggly teenager who loves to talk on the phone, play her Nintendo Wii and listen to music.

And she’s very proud, she said, that she has finally learned to jump rope, which she accomplished last summer.

Early problems

“We knew she had kidney problems when I was six months pregnant,” Gina said. “She also had congestive heart failure and had to be on dialysis for 12 hours every night until she could have a kidney transplant.” Bianca was only 3 weeks old at that time and was being tube-fed.

However, the doctors wouldn’t perform the transplant until Bianca weighed 20 pounds. She was 2 years old by then.

In the meantime, both parents were evaluated as potential donors; both were compatible. “That’s very rare,” Bob said. “But Gina was a nurse and had the medical knowledge, so we felt I should be the donor and she would provide care.”

Bianca was transferred from Tod Children’s Hospital, where she was born, to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, which is right next to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where her father would undergo the surgery to give her one of his kidneys.

After his surgery, Bob’s only thought was to see his daughter in the hospital next door. “I rolled into the room [in a wheelchair] and she’s sitting in her bed eating mashed potatoes,” he said. “She had such a big smile. She just came alive.”

Later, he said, one of the doctors who had counseled them said, “Thank God, you didn’t listen to me.”

After her transplant, Bianca received intervention and therapy in the Easter Seals Building Blocks preschool program in Youngstown until she was 6.

“It was a comprehensive program where she received physical, occupational and speech therapy,” Gina said. “And she made a lot of good friends there.”

Her life nowadays

Bianca’s come a long way since that time.

Her school days begin at 6 a.m., unless her dad lets her sleep a little longer when she begs him for “five more minutes.”

Bianca loves school, her parents said, and she is especially fond of her teachers and the aides that help her throughout the day. She spends most of her day at Canfield High in a self-contained classroom for students with cognitive disabilities, taught by Alicia Muzina.

“She is a delightful person,” Muzina said. “She is never at a loss for words.”

Bianca has acclimated very well to high school life, Muzina said, and has made great strides, “wanting to do things independently. She is willing to try anything and is not afraid to ask for help.”

Muzina said she sees progress in Bianca’s writing and her math, which Bianca admits she struggles with.

At school, she helps some of the multiple handicapped children when her class gets together with them on Fridays.

Beyond the classroom, Bianca works in the cafeteria after lunch putting chairs back on the tables. She also helps bag groceries and stock shelves at the Giant Eagle in Canfield, and she wipes tables and cleans up at the Dairy Queen in Cornersburg. In addition, she is involved in the Big Reach Center of Hope in Greenford.

Family and friends

Bianca has a 12-year-old sister, Marissa, a very active Canfield Middle School student, who cheers, plays softball and soccer, and dances.

“‘Bi’ comes to see my games,” she said. “We also tease each other a lot.”

The two of them help each other out, too. Marissa helps Bianca with her hair and makeup, while “Bi” lends her sister money sometimes. They also love to swim together, which they’ve done since they were very little.

With her mom, Bianca loves to “shop till we drop” at the Southern Park Mall.

“I’ve been trying to get her to take me,” Bianca said.

Shopping time is difficult to find because Gina is an assistant professor of nursing at the Kent State-Trumbull Branch, and she is also employed on an as-needed basis at Northside Hospital.

Bob, who works for the Ohio Turnpike Commission, was able to go to adjust his hours to part-time to help care for Bianca.

“Bianca calls me ‘Turnpike Boy,’” he said with a laugh. “After she told my boss, he calls me that now, too.”

Bob good-naturedly said he takes a lot of abuse from the women in his family. “I’m the whipping post,” he said. “Everything is taken out on me. Even the dog is a female.”

A longtime friend Bianca has had ever since she was named the Easter Seals poster child when she was 3 is local television anchor Stan Boney of WYTV. The two of them appeared together in the Easter Seals spring fashion show that year and have continued that tradition for the last 14 years.

“It’s kind of our once-a-year date,” Boney said. “She’s a lot of fun. I’ve been able to watch her grow up. I might have even carried her when she was little,” he added.

Bianca’s parents said every year she looks forward to the phone call about appearing in the fashion show. With the help of Boney, Bianca walks the runway and models the clothing and jewelry.

Another friend in Bianca’s life is Ryan Creighton, whom she’s known since kindergarten. They lost touch for a while, but rekindled their friendship by going to the Mahoning County MRDD-sponsored prom last spring. Ryan is one of the reasons Bianca spends so much time on the telephone.

When asked about the one thing she would want people to know about her, Bianca said, “I love my friends and family,” she said.