The Romualdo family moved to the St. Cloud community in 2021, then, they received some devastating news… their 11 month old daughter Nicole was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma – cancer. Friends, neighbors, and the community came together to support the family, including holding a wonderful one-year birthday celebration for the precious little girl, but sadly, Nicole sadly passed away earlier this year.
Last week, the Romualdo family held a garage sale with many of Nicole’s things to raise money and to spread awareness for a little girl named Helena in Brazil, who is fighting cancer. It’s not too late to help this courageous little girl in honor of Nicole Romualdo, just go to the gofundme page that was setup to help: https://gofund.me/aaf4cad8
Nicole was fighting Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare sarcoma that develops in the muscles and can cause severe pain and swelling. About 350 children, teens, and young adults in the United States are diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma each year with Rhabdomyosarcoma being slightly more common in boys and often occurring before age 5.
Debora and William, Nicole’s parents had to make the tough choice to cancel her daughter’s 1st birthday party because of all the additional responsibilities necessary to take care of Nicole, but that’s where the community kicked in.
Although the Romualdo family were new to their neighborhood in 2021, their new neighbors and friends, like Heather Gibbs and Lindsey Taylor, put together a birthday drive-by celebration that included the St. Cloud Police Department, Pink Heals from St. Cloud along with their Pink firetruck Kris, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Positively Osceola, Princesses Against Cancer, and numerous friends and neighbors. The birthday celebration parade kicked off at Chisolm Park in Narcoossee and made its way, along with car honking and sirens blaring, to Nicole’s home where she was showered with smiles, laughter, gifts, photos, a “smash cake” from Publix, and of course… bunches of love from everyone.
