Vinny

Vinny was born with numerous complications even beyond the predicted facial abnormalities, including the need to eat through a feeding tube, and spent about two months in the intensive care unit, where Lakatos visited the family every other day.

The challenges didn’t end when Blanco and Vinny finally went home, and neither did Lakatos’s support.

Vinny needed several surgeries, and Blanco had to learn how to feed him six times a day — including the middle of the night — through a gastronomy tube.

Vinny was eventually diagnosed with nonverbal autism and a seizure disorder, and Blanco joined a support group for parents that Lakatos was leading.

We’d head to whichever Jon and Vinny’s location we’re closest to at the time.