Glen Cove man who fought rare chromosome disorder dead at 21

Nicolas Vigliotti, a Glen Cove man who time and again defied the odds of his rare genetic disorder, died Sunday at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, his family said. He was 21.

When Vigliotti was born, his doctors didn’t expect him to live through the day, his mother, Debbie Vigliotti, said last May. He was born with chromosome-14 deletion, a genetic disorder that affected his thyroid, brain and lungs, and toward the end of his life necessitated him being on a ventilator.

But Vigliotti remained positive, even after he had been turned down by three donor centers for a lung transplant that his doctors said he needed to survive.

“Until his last breath, our superman fought for his life,” Debbie Vigliotti said in a statement Sunday. “A slow journey since last night he still fought. He took his last breath. He is now free. Nico is in heaven.”

A vigil was held Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Church of Saint Rocco in Glen Cove.

A wake is scheduled Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at Whitting Funeral Home in Glen Head, followed by a funeral Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the Church of Saint Rocco.

Vigliotti will be buried at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to Paving Pathways for Tomorrow, a nonprofit Debbie Vigliotti created to provide funds for Nico and other children with rare disorders.