From the archives: Roslyn Heights family gets tickets for pontiff's Yankee Stadium celebration

This story was originally published in Newsday on April 20, 2008

Rosemarie Cavallaro figures she's received two miracles in her life.

The first was when her son was born four months premature, weighing just 1 pound, and survived, although he ended up blind.

The second was when four of the five members of her family won tickets through a lottery to attend Pope Benedict XVI's Mass at Yankee Stadium today.

"It's truly incredible," said Cavallaro, 46, of Roslyn Heights.

Cavallaro and her husband, Rich, also 46, submitted two letters to their parish, St. Aidan in Williston Park, and included the names of their two youngest children, Rich, 18, who is blind, and Dena, 12.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre received 13,000 letters seeking tickets, and conducted a lottery drawing for the 1,000 available. Cavallaro figured she didn't have much chance of winning one set of tickets, much less two.

They found out they were double winners just last Friday and have been trying to process the news ever since.

"I was astonished and surprised," said Rich, a senior at Herricks High School who plans to attend Hofstra University this fall to study computers and music. "Getting the chance to hear the pope is going to be a great experience and one I'm sure I'll always remember."

Doctors never imagined him making it this far. His prognosis was bleak after his birth, but somehow he survived. His mother does not think it was accidental.

"I feel things happen for a reason," she said. "That's why my son is here. He was meant to show the world . . . it's important to see with your heart. You really don't need your eyes."

She added that she was never afraid he was going to die after his premature birth. Her faith pulled her through. "I knew he was here for a reason. God chose us to be his parents."

Despite his handicap, Rich seems to be thriving. He plays the piano and sings, with pop songs by musicians including Billy Joel, the Beatles and Pearl Jam among his favorites.

He uses special computer programs that read words out loud as he surfs the Internet and does research.

His mother says that he rarely allows himself to fall into a funk. "I can't say that I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, but I can tell you my son does every single day of his life," she said.

Now, the whole family is smiling as it prepares to see the pope. "It's really exciting to see someone so close to Christ and so holy," said Dena, a sixth-grader at Herricks Middle School.

Her sister Adriana, 19, attends Villanova University and won't be able to attend the Mass. But Cavallaro said the two girls are just as special to her and her husband as Rich, partly because they help look out for him.

"My son is my special blessing from heaven," she said, "but my daughters are my living guardian angels."