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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 'Baby Tony' Prica remains Lockport's miracle child

Lockport Union-Sun & Journal - 2/26/2017

Feb. 26--Lockport's Tony and Kelly Prica are reminded every day about the miracle they brought into this world in January of 1990.

Now happily married for 32 glorious years, the Allen Street couple said people still approach them on a daily basis to ask about their only child, a son, "Baby Tony," who became a household name in this city nearly three decades ago.

Now 27, engaged to be married and living in West Seneca, the newborn once in need of a life-saving new liver is alive and well and trying to understand the saga that defines him still today.

"I remember people used to come up to me in school and ask me about it. I still don't realize how much people did for me back then. I can't grasp it," said Tony Jr., who's living in West Seneca today with his fiancé, Brittany Shriver, a nurse.

"We got engaged while we were on a Carnival cruise ship, The Ecstasy, in the Bahamas with my parents in 2011," Baby Tony said.

Meanwhile, his parents said they're still reminded of their miracle "man" every day.

"It was a hard birth," Kelly reminisced last week. "He was actually an olive color when he was born, so I just thought he was Italian and that was the coloring, but the doctor right away said something isn't right. He checked his bilirubin and said we needed to get him to Children's. Within three weeks we were told he needed a transplant. They gave him a year."

Soon, the Baby Tony saga was making front page headlines in the US&J as the quest for a new liver began earnestly.

The Pricas were soon sent to Pittsburgh'sChildren's Hospital, where they awaited a donor. A liver became available in April, but it was quickly ruled out as a non-match. Tony Sr. said he remembers the second opportunity well.

"A few months later they called us again out of the blue and said a liver had become available," Tony Sr. said. "I'll never forget the date. It was Aug. 7, 1990, in Pittsburgh. I remember it went late into the night. It was early morning when they were finished," he said.

"My thoughts at the time were, 'We know he's in good medical hands.' I just felt pretty confident in the man upstairs."

After the successful transplant, Baby Tony and his mom stayed in Pittsburgh for periodic blood work that was needed to monitor the infant's new organ, while Tony Sr. returned to Lockport to work and the family was relegated to spending weekends together. About a month and a half after the transplant surgery, the family was reunited at home for good in Lockport.

"We went back every couple of months to Pittsburgh, where they did ultrasounds and blood work," Kelly said. "There was always the possibility of rejection. They gave us all the worse case scenarios and thank God it never got to that point."

Added Tony Sr., "Each time between the visits grew longer, farther and farther apart."

Soon, Baby Tony was attending classes at Lockport'sGood Shepard Church, Anna Merritt Elementary School, North Park Intermediate School and Lockport High School.

"The schools in Lockport were great to us," Kelly said. "They gave him all the help and therapy he needed. They were all exceptional."

Little Tony said it was difficult as a child trying to understand what all the fuss was about, but he's learning more and more about it as the years go by.

"He doesn't remember so much of it, of course, but we do and we've talked about it," Kelly said. "I can't tell you the number of people today, every time they see us, they ask how he is."

Added Tony Sr., "It's just really nice knowing that there's still people thinking about Tony."

Tony Jr. went on to earn a criminal justice degree at Bryant & Stratton and hopes someday to become a police officer.

"Right now, I'm healthy and have felt very good for the past 10 years. I'm just taking life as it comes," he said.

Contact US&J Sunday Editor John D'Onofrio at 439-9222 ext. 6247.

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(c)2017 the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.)

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