Zachary Aidan Cordeiro

Zachary Aidan Cordeiro, age 10, of New Bedford, MA passed away on Friday, December 13, 2024 at Boston Children’s Hospital.

He was born in Boston, MA and was the beloved son of Paul Cordeiro and Susan (Fernandes) Ribeiro. Zachary was a learner at Haven on Bliss Ministries and also attended Big & Little Anchors Co-op program.

Zachary is survived by his father, Paul Cordeiro; his mother, Susan Ribeiro; sister Alivia Cordeiro; aunts, Sandra Fernandes (Susan’s twin sister), Lizette Casilli and her husband Todd, Elizabeth Fernandes and her significant other Kevin; uncle, John Cordeiro and his wife Elizabeth; paternal grandparents, Margarida deOliveira Cordeiro and the late Manuel Cordeiro; maternal grandparents, Antonio and Ligia Fernandes; as well as his cousins, Yeziah Freeman, Dominic Casilli, Matthew Casilli and Mason Casilli, Cameron Sobolewski and Evan Cordeiro.

Zachary Aidan Cordeiro was born on 8/7/2014. He was born diagnosed with hypo plastic left heart syndrome, HLHS. A condition where the entire left side of his heart was critically underdeveloped. His prognosis for survival after birth left little hope. The options given to their parents prior to his birth were one-termination (as they were told by 3 different Dr.’s he would likely never sustain a high quality of life), two- palliative care, or 3- an attempt to completely reconstruct his heart by a series of 3 planned open heart surgeries. His parents were adamant to do whatever they could to sustain his life and decided on surgeries and trusted God to lead the way. His first was at 5 days old, then 4 months old and one at 2 years old. He faced many struggles and adversities these first few months back and forth to the hospital. At only 2 months old, his parents rushed him into Boston Children’s Hospital while watching him gasp for air and turn blue. His aorta which was considered atresia, had narrowed restricting blood flow. He sustained 3 cardiac arrests, at that time, and he remained hospitalized for another 3 months but somehow miraculously recovered from this event. After his 3rd surgery at 2 years old, their family invested their whole lives in educating themselves about health and wellbeing and set off on a mission that felt lead by God to honor their temple and they lived a life dedicated to purification of not only their bodies, but their mind and spirit. Their willingness to lead by example was inspired by wanting to give Zachary the highest quality of life they could with what they learned and felt they were being steward by God along the way.

For 7 years, from the age of 3 and up until he was unexpectedly admitted on 11/14/2024 with sudden severe heart pain, he lived a relatively normal healthy life without any restrictions…other than the scars on his chest, no one could have guessed he was running around with half a heart.

Despite his hardship early in life, he had this unwavering zest for life, determination, and will to do everything with a passion of pure joy and bliss. He loved life and carried this air of confidence and a presence of invincibility that was undeniably felt when he was around.

He was always the life of the party, and always ready for an adventure. He was quite the conversationist. He loved to make people laugh by telling jokes, being silly, or playing pranks and, at the same time, he was a wise old soul who loved to talk and tell stories and could have such deep, philosophical and insightful conversations.

Some of his favorite things to do were to jump on the trampoline, go to the playground, and play with his cats. The library was like a second family home and all the staff knew him by name. Zachary was always asking questions and inquiring about something else he was interested in putting on hold for next time as he loved getting books, soundtracks and movies.

He loved riding his scooter, having fires in the backyard, going fishing, riding the quad with dad, especially in the snow. Zachary also loved legos, doing mad libs, watching movies, video games, creating electronic edits on videos. He was a master at putting together over 2000 piece puzzles with such ease and then would slide them under our rug to store them.

Zachary loved to sing and dance. He especially loved to make videos and shows together with his sister, Alivia.

He also really loved food and loved being in the kitchen either baking with mom and creating his own recipes from scratch or cooking something up with dad. His favorite food was chickpeas and apples.

He loved Christmas and loved counting down the days on his calendar to his birthday because he loved parties and everything that came with it.

The thing he loved the most and made him the happiest was his family. He was happiest when his dad had a day off of work and he was together with his whole family, no matter what he would do, and was even happier if this included both sets of grandparents, his cousins, and his close friends, all whom he adored.

His little half a heart was so full of life and love for the simple things that really mattered in life which was his health and being with his family.

He was kind, sweet, charming and Zachary authentically and genuinely spoke his mind. Once he was determined to want or do something he would find a way to persuade and get his way.

One of Zachary’s wishes was to have his entire family home for Christmas this year. He had it in his heart to make this wish come true. And although he only had half a heart, it was whole and full of love, tenacity, and conviction to things that held most near and dear. He fought with everything he had the last few weeks of his life and the lessons we can all take is to lead our lives whole heartedly. Keep the things that are most important to us inside our hearts and fight for the things that are most important to us with passion and conviction. And because of Zachary and his heart, his wish to bring his family together for Christmas came true. Zachary may have had only half a heart but what he taught us about life, in his short 10 years, is how to live life wholeheartedly. Even though we all feel such grief and sorrow for his physical loss here on this earth, it is a direct reflection of the deep love, joy, bliss and lessons he has brought into our lives and we are forever grateful for the gift of his beautiful soul’s short visit in all of our lives.

Zachary's visiting hours will be held on Thursday, December 19, 2024 at Perry Funeral Home from 5:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. His funeral services will take place on Friday, December 20, 2024 beginning in Perry Funeral Home at 9:00 A.M. and followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary's Church South Dartmouth at 10:00 A.M. Burial will immediately follow in Rural Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Perry Funeral Home, 111 Dartmouth Street, New Bedford.