Most families pack snacks for a road trip. Izaiah’s family packs a mobile clinic — and still took him across America.

For most families, a road trip means clothes, snacks and a few suitcases.

For Izaiah’s family, leaving home means medical equipment, emergency supplies and everything needed to keep their medically fragile son safe.

They still decided to show him the country.

Izaiah lives with WOREE syndrome, an extremely rare genetic neurological disorder linked to the WWOX gene. The condition can cause severe epilepsy and profound developmental challenges. He has a tracheostomy and a feeding tube and requires extensive daily care.

His parents, Will and Yeni Rizzo, knew traveling with him would never be simple.

They did not want difficult to automatically mean impossible.

Under the name Found Nomads, the family prepared an RV and set out across the United States, visiting national parks and other landmarks while documenting what travel with a medically fragile child actually looks like.

Sometimes that means finding creative ways to reach places never designed with Izaiah’s needs in mind. Other times it means packing far more equipment than most families could imagine.

The family says the journey eventually took them through 23 states.

As people began following Izaiah online, strangers started helping too. A fundraiser helped purchase adaptive equipment and supplies for the road. They later began raising money for a specially modified van with room for Izaiah, his mobility needs, his medical equipment and the rest of the family.

For Will and Yeni, the goal was never to pretend their son’s condition was easy.

It was to make sure those difficulties did not become the only experiences he was allowed to have.

Izaiah may experience the world differently from most children.

His parents are determined to make sure he still gets to experience as much of it as possible.

Sources: Found Nomads family accounts (Will and Yeni Rizzo) on YouTube, TikTok and GoFundMe; family documentation of Izaiah’s WOREE/WWOX diagnosis, tracheostomy and feeding-tube care, RV national-park travel and van fundraiser.