A single mother in Connecticut who lost her home in a devastating flood miraculously received back a precious keepsake this week.
Randi Marcucio’s picturesque Oxford home was washed away on Sunday when the creek in her yard overflowed its banks due to a historic rainstorm.
But the next day, an ultrasound image of her son washed up about 35 miles away, NBC Connecticut reported.
“I’m walking along the water with my girlfriend and I see something in the water that looks like a photograph,” Nancy Lewis told the outlet of the moment she saw the paper floating in Long Island Sound off Compo Beach on Monday.
Lewis fished the photo out of the water and realized it was an ultrasound image with the name “Marcucio, Randi” printed on the top.
She googled the name and saw a post by NBC Connecticut Today anchor Heidi Voight about Marcucio’s home.
Lewis contacted Voight and drove to Oxford on Wednesday to deliver the recovered sonogram to Marcucio.
“My heart just broke when I read her story and that’s why I came forward,” Lewis explained her determination to return the scan to its rightful owner.
Lewis and Marcucio, an emergency room nurse, shared an emotional hug as they faced each other.
Marcucio explained that the ultrasound image was of her son Rhylee, who is now three years old.
“I have seen the devastation and read your story,” Lewis told her.
“A single mother, ER nurse. I thought you were someone who was always taking care of other people. And I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you. I mean, other than this little ultrasound picture I found.”
Marcucio’s father, Carl Marcucio, said he believes Lewis found the ultrasound image through some sort of divine intervention.
“The fact that she was on that beach at that time, saw something like that, thought it was more than just a piece of trash, picked it up and followed up on it – thank you very much – that’s a story in itself,” he said.
“And it makes me believe that there is something bigger than us. That has something to do with what happens with these things.”
As she works to rebuild what she lost, Marcucio says she is focusing on the happiness she has found along the way.
“Rhylee and I are still alive. Some other people are not. So, you know, maybe Rhylee and I, to honor the people who can’t move on, could just work to thrive because we survived,” she told NBC.
“Now is the time to prosper for those people and their families who can’t. You know, this is the beginning. This is the middle. And at the end, we’re going to finish with a good, long life.”
