NYDIA SORACCO-GODONE—a Legacy of Unconditional Self-abnegation and Endless Love
The GODONE-MARESCA Adoption Story
On September 1, 2012, at the age of 88, E. Nydia Soracco-Godone was called by the Lord. She was the daughter of Francesco Soracco, a civil engineer, and Teresa Maresca-Pollio, a teacher. This extraordinary lady left behind a legacy of love and total self-abnegation, which involves the most powerful Pro-Life message any advocate could have left. Actually, after having started a very early and brilliant career as a professor of literature and lecturer on literary issues, with extensive charitable work and social involvement in diplomatic circles, in her very early thirties Nydia married Armando Godone-Signanini, a degreed C.P.A., and withdrew from public life as soon as the couple’s most cherished dream became a reality with the birth of their daughter, Lillian.
Being unable to have another child, they tried to be pioneers in transracial and special needs adoption, but those were forbidden grounds those days. Yet, they passed on that passion to their daughter, who would make it a reality in much easier times.
Nydia always placed other people’s needs before her own. She always felt deeply towards any child. When she was 34 years old, with no weapon other than her valiant heart, she prevented the kidnapping of a seven-year old child whom a stranger with blood-shot eyes and a knife in his hand was trying to take away. She would not shout either in order to prevent her husband from listening and rushing to the rescue. He was out of sight on the other side of a stone wall, recovering from surgery and holding their baby. Yet, Nydia’s determination to save that child’s life was more powerful than the knife the kidnapper had in his hand. The depraved-looking man ended up fleeing the scene. The story had a happy ending and no media coverage. Nevertheless, wherever that little boy is now, assuming that he grew up to become a father and a grandfather, he owes his life to the brave lady who was ready to spare her own.
As a devout cradle Catholic, Nydia was always strongly Pro-Life. Lillian clearly remembers that when she was only 15, her mother told her that pointing a finger at a single mother was tantamount to promoting abortion.
By approximately the same time, Lillian had a dream about a baby with no limbs. In the morning she would ask her mother whether it was wrong to wish to be the parent of a child like that. Nydia would throw her arms around her daughter’s shoulders and would tell her that she hoped something like that didn’t happen to her when giving birth to a biological child because, sadly, quite often those little ones didn’t make it past their first year of life. Yet, she would also tell Lillian that if one day she wanted to adopt a child with that or any other disability, she would be very proud, would be her strongest supporter, and would do everything possible and impossible to make that dream come true.
Lillian Godone-Maresca was blessed with three biological children. Catherine, Gerard, and Warren would grow up with the strongest Catholic faith. In turn, their faith would ignite their deep concern about the sanctity of human life, equality and social justice. As Lillian prematurely became a widowed mother, Nydia was more than a loving, nurturing, devoted grandmother: she was an actual co-parent. Soon the five of them would become a team with one unanimously shared, omnipresent, almost compulsive big dream: they were all determined not to spare any sacrifices in order to be able to welcome children with special needs into their family.
Nydia would not only keep the promise she had made to her daughter many years before, but would go even much further. As she had never worked in U.S., even with a green card, Medicare would have charged her a sizable monthly premium. Notwithstanding having the means to have paid for such premium, or to have paid out of pocket for the knee replacement and cataracts surgeries that she badly needed, Nydia spontaneously and happily deemed the international adoption expenses for her younger grandkids to join their family, first from Haiti and then from Bulgaria, with two failed adoptions from Russia and Uzbekistan in between, to be much more important than her own mobility and eyesight. Even after finding herself almost blind and in a wheelchair, she never had any regrets. She could have spent her last seven years on this earth in a much more active and fulfilled way, being able to walk, read, and watch T.V.—but true fulfillment for her was through her grandkids. That was a sacrifice that only a saint, whether formally canonized or not, could have made.
Despite a privileged background that can be traced to the oldest Italian nobility, this family’s present financial reality is a totally different one. Yet, all together they made it, united by that unanimous burning desire to share their lives with more children—specifically with children facing some challenges. Catherine contributed monies that she should have used for her own graduate courses. Gerard and Warren voluntarily did without some things that tend to be deemed must-haves for pre-teens and teenagers these days.
Starting the adoption path was not easy. A couple of attempts at domestic adoption failed. In early 2006 Lillian asked Fr. Pavone, from Priests for Life, to include their family in his prayers. Priests for Life’s official prayer for the month of April 2006 was “for those seeking to adopt a child, to have courage and success.” That very same month Lillian would commit to two adoptions that would finally have a happy ending, and after a long process, in mid-2008 Thomas and Nicholas, both 7 at the time, joined the Godone-Maresca family from Haiti. At the very last moment, when the two children were legally hers already, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince gave Lillian and her family some days of terrible heartbreak. The boys’ files had been randomly selected to be sent to a higher scrutiny office where they could be kept for months, years--or indefinitely. Nydia, Lillian, Catherine, and the twins were in sheer desperation. One of those nights Lillian had a dream in which her father, who had passed away in 1993, was knocking at their door carrying Thomas and Nicholas, one in each arm. Lillian will never forget her Dad’s words, “I went to Haiti myself because it was the only way to bring them home.” As she tried to hug her Dad one more time in her dream, he vanished—but in the morning she would call the U.S. Consulate again . . . and both files were back where they were supposed to be! They apologized to her and told her that they’d start working on the boys’ visas. Within one week Lillian was purchasing the plane tickets to bring her new sons home.
Thomas and Nicholas are now 11 (not twins, though). Both of them have mild c.p. Also, both of them are cuddly, loving, considerate to others—learning to act very much in the way they see their older sister and brothers act.
Stephen is now 10 and joined the Godone-Maresca family in December 2010 from Bulgaria. He has spina bifida. Yet, he also has such a larger-than-life, outgoing personality that people even fail to notice his wheelchair. He is cuddly and loving, and has a strong sense of family, truthfulness, and honesty. He is totally bonded as well.
Maximilian, 10, and Philip, 7, officially joined the Godone-Maresca family on October 23, 2012, when the Bulgarian court granted their adoptions. Lillian is picking them up on the week of December 10. Both are very affectionate children with mild c.p. , and yet, the same as their similarly challenged brothers already at home, they have a very noble, envy-free attitude in the face of their physical limitations. As well as Stephen, Maximilian uses a wheelchair.
When people tell Lillian that what she is doing is great she feels she doesn’t deserve the compliment. She feels her mother deserves it for having put the adoption expenses ahead of her own health. Her daughter and twin sons deserve it because of all they have been doing and do for their younger brothers—and their commitment will not end up in their young ages. No matter how many times Lillian tried to tell her older children that if something happened to her they shouldn’t feel that they need to sacrifice their own goals and dream for their younger brothers, all three of them keep very adamant that no sibling of them will ever end up in a group. The three of them feel very strongly in that they will never give up in such commitment, and would never fall in love with anyone who might expect them to give up on it. Although some people may think of that as a huge burden on the older sister and brothers, Lillian states that she never asked them to make such commitment, but on the other hand, with such extremely close family ties, if life vicissitudes one day happened to hit one of them harder than the others, the one hardest hit would never be alone.
The Godone-Maresca family feels the need to create awareness that the “unwanted child” argument quite often used by pro-choice propagandists is no more than a myth. Nobody in good faith can argue that older children or children with special needs are not wanted. There can be no better testimony to that than a grandmother who voluntarily sacrificed her own health so that her daughter could adopt—not once, but multiple times, and in addition to already having three children born to her.
For anyone who is considering adoption, with no hesitation Lillian recommendsAbout A Child. She vouches to their integrity, their true concern for each child and each family, their promptness to reply, and their good results.
Moreover, Lillian emphatically says that if you visit the Reece’s Rainbow website you’ll easily see that there are parents willing to adopt children with much more severe medical conditions than the ones she would have accepted or would ever accept. For anyone who might consider adoption, Lillian has a few thoughts to share: First of all, adoption saves lives. Who wouldn’t want to rescue a child? Secondly, despite all the negative publicity based upon one or two unsuccessful outcomes, there are thousands and thousands of adopted children, even if not so young at the time of adoption, who want no more than being able to use the word “mom.” While letting others know about the blessings of special needs adoption, concurrent adoptions, and older child adoptions, Lillian shares her “recipe” for success: “If adoption is not just a ‘parental’ issue but a whole family issue, if absolutely everyone in the family shows the same love and generosity, the adopted children will react accordingly.” Finally, if the adoption expenses appear to be a problem, Lillian encourages anyone to check out how within the Reece’s Rainbow community families help each other, donate to each other, promote each other’s fundraisers, and even fundraise for one another. Some families get even fully funded that way. Lillian says, “My Mother’s enormous sacrifice is meant to be a vivid testimony in favor of the blessing of adoption, a testimony that shows how infinitely precious children’s lives are—a testimony to encourage people to adopt--not to discourage anyone because of the costs. Besides I didn't know about Reece's Rainbow before. I didn't know that adopting families could pull together and help each other so much. Had I known about Reece's Rainbow sooner, my Mom might not have needed to give away so very much.”
Each day that passes these boys wait without a family. Each day a family grieves. Please search your heart and help them even if it is only $1 or $5 as each amount will help them reach their goal. This is their Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship page where donations can be made - http://reecesrainbow.org/3395/sponsorgodone-maresca . This is their family blog - The Miracle I Witnessed .
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