“I never thought a child would come up to me and say, ’Look, Mom, he shakes like me.’ It really moved me.” Federico’s mom
Riccardo and Federico’s story begins not at camp, but at a place most families never want to know well: the pediatric ward.
It was there that both boys faced leukemia together, spending long, uncertain days in treatment.
Riccardo still remembers his chance first meeting with Federico at the emergency room. Upon seeing him walk in with a fever, Riccardo looked at his mom and said, “look, Mom, he shakes like me.” It was a small moment that changed everything.
In that serendipitous instant of recognition, the two boys found a mutual solace and understanding they never had before.
After much time spent together through the rituals of treatment, Riccardo and Federico’s rare friendship often felt like one of the only respites they could rely on as they navigated the unknowns of illness.
Last summer, when the boys came to Dynamo Camp, the SeriousFun camp in Italy, they found that there are no limits to their friendship or futures.
It was at camp that, for the first time, they could simply be friends first and patients second—trading hospital routines for ordinary childhood pleasures.
Though illness had once defined their lives and their friendship, they had the chance to reimagine what they were capable of and rewrite their stories.
Today, Riccardo and Federico are looking ahead with hope. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, they unsurprisingly agree: they both want to become doctors.
In healing, helping, and returning the care they received, they dream of reshaping futures just as camp did for them.
By supporting camp, you gave Riccardo and Federico not only a week of unbridled fun, but the chance to practice being themselves, side by side, as friends who can imagine a tomorrow beyond illness.
Now through December 31, your gift will have twice the impact thanks to a generous match. Help more kids like Riccardo and Federico reclaim childhood, discover community, and grow toward the futures they deserve.
