Aaron Bianca spent a lot of time at medical facilities ... visiting with his uncle Ted. Nothing has been the same since his uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor, then viral encephalitis.

Aaron took his senior year off from Princeton to help his aunt Virginia with his uncle's care. “I couldn’t picture myself not being next to him the night before the surgery. When he's thinking about dying and I’m thinking about getting straight A's. It didn't seem fair to be thinking about myself."

When we first met Aaron eight years ago, he was an honors student at De la Salle high. Even then his teachers could see his gift. As his teacher Julie Townley commented, "Aaron is a kid who comes along in the life of someone like me, once in a lifetime. He is thirsty for information; he is thirsty for knowledge."

At an early age, Aaron decided that going to college was important. It was a big decision for a little boy from the tough streets of Richmond where Aaron grew up with his single mom. She had a hard time keeping a job. Aaron worried about whether he would have enough to eat, or a safe bed, or was his mother going to be happy? “My mother would throw my homework around and tear it up, and I’d think, why would she do that and that’s when I realized that she wasn't right at that time, and that worried me."

Aaron was about 10, when Child Protective Services took him out of his mother's home and placed him with his Aunt Virginia and Uncle Ted. As Aaron explained, “most of the foster kids around the world have aunts and uncles, and cousins, and people who could willingly take them in, but don't. Uncle Ted did not just take me in, he invited me into his home. He and my aunt picked me up off the street where I had no place to go and made me their son. He’s really the only father figure I’ve had in my life."

Aaron returned to Princeton to complete his degree after his Uncle Ted passed away. He’s glad he spent those final months with his uncle. "Just like his life was on the line when I came home from Princeton, he was there for me when my life was on the line.”

Aaron is currently attending Boalt School of Law.

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