DEBORAH NICKERSON and son ronnie
WHY YOU KNOW THEM: Deborah Nickerson was featured in a March profile after she took 15-year-old Ronnie, who is deaf and has spina bifida, into her Henrico County home with the goal of adoption. Ronnie was the fifth child to become part of Nickerson's home. She has a birth son, Chip; two girls, Ashley and Jessica; and Corey, who lives with Nickerson as part of a guardianship agreement with his grandparents. With the exception of Chip, Nickerson's children have special needs ranging from Asperger's Syndrome to blindness and brain cancer.
WHAT'S NEW: Since arriving in Nickerson's home in March, Ronnie has had quite a year, Nickerson said. The biggest news, she said, is that Ronnie's adoption was finalized Nov. 20 — National Adoption Day. He had surgeries during the summer to help his bladder and kidneys, which had been affected by the spina bifida, and his health has improved, Nickerson said.
Ronnie is a student at J.R. Tucker High School, and he's a member of a wheelchair basketball team. He began physical therapy because he wanted to walk, Nickerson said. He's walking some with the aid of braces and a walker, she said, but he's hoping to transition to forearm braces so he can use them at school. He spends a lot of time texting his girlfriend on an iPhone he received from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
In other words, normal teen stuff.
"He's finally getting to live a life like other teenagers," Nickerson said. "He hasn't had that opportunity before."
Holly Prestidge
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