SAL DINUCCI

Disasters pile up, but nothing keeps DiNucci down

By KATIE McBROOM
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Salvatore DiNucci, 32, has never known life outside a wheelchair. He was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that renders him immobile from the waist down.

Sal has struggled all his life, but never as much as in this past year when a domino effect of tragic events hit his family hard.

In August, the DiNuccis’ livelihood was shattered when a car plummeted through the family restaurant, Giovanni’s Café in Deerfield Beach. The vehicle, commanded by a disoriented elderly driver, wrecked everything in its path. The loss of the family business added to the pile of medical bills from Sal’s recent hospitalizations.

“I used to look at homeless people and wonder how they ended up out on the streets,” says Sal’s mother, Pam DiNucci. “Now I know.”

The family’s attempts to rebuild the restaurant have failed. They lost their home to foreclosure and were forced to move to smaller quarters last month. Insufficient funds forced the DiNuccis to leave behind equipment essential to Sal’s care: two wheelchair ramps and two Hoyer lifts required to carry him to his bed, toilet and shower.

Sal has outgrown his wheelchair, but a new one is not in the family’s budget. And, to make things worse, his mother’s only means of transportation is breaking down.

“My biggest fear is that I’ll stall out on the highway with Sal in the car, but I just can’t afford another van right now,” she says.

Although their world seems to be unraveling, Sal refuses to lose faith.

“His positive attitude is infectious,” said Walter McDonald, production supervisor at the Habilitation Center in Boca Raton where Sal works part time each week.

Sal has attended the Adult Day Training Program at the Habilitation Center, an agency devoted to adults with special needs, since 1999. There, he teaches computer courses. He and his family may be struggling to survive, but he’s not going down without a fight.

“Nothing holds me back,” said Sal, who has taken a second job at TJ Maxx to help pay bills.

His mother cleans houses, struggling to balance work with her demanding schedule caring for Sal. But she has no choice — the family doesn’t earn enough to cover expenses.

“It’s hard, but that’s life,” she said. “You go on.”

SAL DINUCCI’S WISH

Sal, who has outgrown his wheelchair, needs a chair to fit his size. He also needs to have two Hoyer lifts and two wheelchair ramps removed from his family’s old home and reinstalled in the new home. His mother needs a reliable van, large enough to accommodate Sal’s wheelchair, to transport him to and from work — the family’s current van is in bad shape. The DiNuccis currently share one cellphone and would like additional phones in the event of an emergency.