Reece Modzelewski a 3 month old Carteret, New Jersey baby has died after the boy’s parents took him off life support after a baby-sitter accident.
Parents, Mark Modzelewski, 32, and Nicole Nicastro, 34, of Carteret, New Jersey, Friday midday made the decision to take their three month old baby son, Reece Modzelewski off life support after poor prospect’s for their child’s survival.
The decision, two days before Christmas, comes after their son was accidentally dropped on the floor by the couple’s baby sitter on Tuesday.
Dispatched paramedics told of the boy being unconscious with medics at the hospital telling the child’s parents that their son had incurred severe brain damage.
At the time, the child’s mother, a pre-K teacher at James F. Murray Elementary School No. 38 in Jersey City, had like most mornings, driven her son from Carteret to Saddle Brook, where she left him with the sitter before driving to work in Hudson County.
Yet at some point during the day, the baby-sitter said Reece had ‘slipped from her grasp’ and fell to the floor, hitting his head.
Reece was the couple’s only child.
Told Police Chief Robert Kugler via NJ.com: ‘A female family member babysitting the baby told officers the baby accidentally fell from her arms and hit the floor with his head,’
‘Our preliminary assessment was that the baby was accidentally dropped by (the) family member.’
Wrote family member Benjamin DiFranco in a fundraiser for the child’s expenses: ‘There isn’t anything more the doctors can do. Even if he wakes up he will have no quality of life; not being able to walk, talk or function on his own. This is the one of the hardest decisions anyone will ever have to make.’
Responding to the tragedy, Reece’s father on Thursday took to Facebook, where he posted:
‘My little baby boy is dying and there’s nothing I can do to help or comfort him,’
‘I don’t know if he can hear, see, taste or touch anymore. My heart has been torn out of my chest.
‘A second of misfortune will turn into a lifetime of pain as is the case with most tragedies. The fact that this happening so close to Christmas and right between both of our birthdays will only make it more difficult.
‘He is such a friendly, smiling and happy baby and we gave him all the love we could… I love you Reece and hopefully there’s a heaven so I’ll be able to see your goofy little smile again someday.’
Modzelewski said that a lot of people are asking what they can do to help and he would like them to ‘give their kids a hug and kiss.’
‘Today will be the worst day of my life,’ he said.
A report via the dailymail tells of police declining to publicly identify the babysitter while continuing to investigate the case. No charges have been filed.
