Client: Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital 

Source: Dekalb Daily Chronicle 

 

Ricky De La Cruz hit the dance floor at the Lurie Prom, “A Night in Paris,” just a month after having a heart transplant: 

“On April 19, Ricky De La Cruz got a new heart, and on May 14 he got to use it in a more figurative sense, when he reached for his prom date and asked permission to hold her hand…

Ricky De La Cruz tore up the dance floor exceptionally well for someone still recovering from a heart transplant, Loughran said. The “fast dances” were his favorite, and when all was said and done, he was glad to have asked Becca Butler to be his date that night.

“It was cool,” he said sleepily.

But as he jumped and spun around the dance floor, Ricky De La Cruz showed few signs of sleepiness. In fact, the grin he wore that night was one his mother hasn’t seen in a while, Dori De La Cruz said.

“He’s just got a smile that lights up the room,” she said. “To see them both just giggly – it looked so normal.”

 

Dekalb Daily Chronicle, “DeKalb High School student recovering from heart transplant enjoys Lurie prom,” June 6, 2016