6-Month-Old Bergen Boy Kash Rodriguez Dies, Family Donates Organs

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — His life was brief, but he is helping other babies live.

Six-month-old Kashton Alfred Rodriguez died Thursday. His parents found him unresponsive, seizing, and cyanotic Saturday and rushed him to Hackensack University Medical Center where he fought for his life.

Rodriguez's heart, liver, and kidneys will be donated to other children through the New Jersey Sharing Network.

"Kash was sent to us for a reason. Not only was he our little miracle," Rodriguez's mother Melissa Messina said on a GoFundMe set up to raise money to help the family. "He ended up being a miracle for three other families."

More than $15,000 has been donated to the family. The money will be used to help the family pay medical bills and funeral costs.

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"So grateful that i got to spend every day looking into those big beautiful blue eyes of yours. I’m so grateful that I got to experience six months of the most amazing bond between two brothers that I’ve ever seen," Melissa Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, of Northvale, is survived by his parents, Messina and Joey Rodriguez, brother Roman, grandparents Al and Beverly Messina, and aunt Amanda Messina.

"He is my hero," Melissa Messina said. "He is a miracle and a life-saver and will always be remembered for the most amazing little child he is."

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com