ROCKLAND, Mass. — Dominic Baldi is on a mission.
“I’ve gone to South Carolina, I’ve gone to the North Shore, the Boston area and the South Shore,” he said.
The 12-year-old Rockland boy has collected more than 400 patches from police departments all over the Commonwealth and even from out of state.
“My main goal is to collect from every town in Massachusetts,” he said.
Collecting patches and then pinning where they came from brings some positive energy into his days.
In June, Dominic was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes.
He spent a week at Mass General, where his finger was pricked about 25 times per day.
“I think by the time we had left the hospital he had probably already been pricked, I’d probably say 800 times, maybe more than that,” said his mother, Jennifer Smith.
Now at home, his parents can track his blood sugar level without a finger prick, which has changed Dominic’s life dramatically.
Dominic’s mother says she first suspected something was wrong with her son in February.
His hair was rapidly thinning out and patches of his scalp were showing.
Dominic had extreme fatigue. Jennifer chalked it up to the stress of the pandemic and not being in school.
She says it was a wake-up call on how important it is to check in with your healthcare provider when things don’t seem right.
“I just knew deep down there was something else wrong with him, but you go on with normal life and talk yourself out of it,” Smith said.
Dominic is on the mend and feeling better, one patch at a time.
Dominic’s prognosis is good and he doing well. He said he hopes to become a police officer someday.
If any police department wishes to send Dominic a patch, you can at this address:
Dominic Baldi
PO Box 499
Abington, MA 02351
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