Kind couple adopt a 10-year-old amputee student who was abandoned by his parents in hospital

Connecticut couple Jenna and Tim Riccio, who are also teachers, opened their hearts and their home to 10-year-old Nate Innocent Riccio. After adopting their student, Nate, the couple now feels their "family is complete."

"He taught me how to be a mother," Jenna, a 37-year-old reading teacher at Walsh Elementary School in Waterbury, told PEOPLE. Tim, 38, who was Nate's art teacher, added, "He's a perfect example of how you can persevere."

Despite enduring a tough battle with sickle cell anemia, Nate has always maintained a positive outlook. Three years ago, complications led to the amputation of Nate's legs below the knees, his left arm, and two and a half fingers on his right hand. Tim told PEOPLE, "He is so outgoing and so resilient. He finds a way to do whatever he puts his mind to."

Nate maintained his optimism even when hospitalized in September 2019 for emergency surgery to prevent an infection in his arm. To comfort the boy who always filled her reading class with joy, Jenna decided to visit him in the hospital.

She recalled, "He was there by himself with no family. I wanted to cheer him up and have someone he knew there with him." At the hospital, Jenna discovered Nate had been removed from his family's home ten days ago. Jenna said, "Nate's doctors were worried about him missing appointments and not getting the medical care he needed."

After getting discharged from the hospital, Nate would have been sent to a foster home more than an hour away from the school that had become his happy place. Jenna was concerned about him and said, "It wasn't the ideal situation for him. I worried about what was going to happen to him."

Jenna and Tim had plenty of space in their heart and home for Nate, so she asked the official at the Department of Children and Families if she could become his foster parent. When she was about to leave, she immediately called another DCF caseworker to inquire about becoming Nate's foster parent.

Then she called Tim, who was her boyfriend at the time. His surprise quickly turned to excitement at the prospect of parenting the boy whose infectious charm always made him smile. Tim added, "I wanted to be a part of it." 

Jenna underwent background checks and home visits to get approved as a foster parent. After this was completed, Nate went home from the hospital with Jenna on October 3, 2019. Tim said, "Within weeks, it felt like we were a family."

Three months later, on New Year's Eve, Tim proposed to Jenna and Nate served as the ring bearer at the couple's wedding on May 15, 2021.

In February 2022, Nate became a big brother when Jenna gave birth to her and Tim's daughter, Julien. Jenna informed PEOPLE, "She's obsessed with him and lights up when she hears his voice." 

On November 18, 2022, Nate officially became Jenna and Tim's son. "This day is amazing!" Nate exclaimed at Waterbury juvenile court at his adoption hearing, which happened on National Adoption Day. He also told WFSB 3, "we were already a family."

These days, when he's not playing with his little sister, Nate is seen at an acting workshop, pursuing a passion that he hopes will someday land him on the big screen. He said, "Every night I go to sleep thinking, 'I'm very lucky."

On the other hand, his parents think they are the lucky ones, as Jenna said, "I'm happy that I never have to imagine life without Nate."