How you can help the parents whose infant died after being dropped by babysitter

CARTERET — A fundraiser for the parents of a 3-month-old boy who died after being accidentally dropped by a babysitter had raised more than $23,000 as of Christmas morning.

Reece Modz died Friday afternoon after his parents removed him from life support, a family friend said via the GoFundMe page in his memory.

"No parent should ever have to get that devastating call saying their son is not breathing," Benjamin DiFranco wrote on the page.

The decision to remove life support was made, DiFranco wrote, because "there isn't anything more the doctors can do. Even if he wakes up he will have no quality of life; not being able to walk, talk or function on his own. This is the one of the hardest decision decision anyone will ever have to make."

The page urges donors to contribut to help parents Nicole Nicastro, 34, and Mark Modzelewski, 32 with expenses as they go through the grieving process.

The 3-month-old boy fell out of the arms of a female family friend who was babysitting him around 3 p.m. on Tuesday in a Saddle Brook home, police told NJ.com Friday.

"My little baby boy is dying and there's nothing I can do to help or comfort him, I don't know if he can hear, see, taste or touch anymore," the father wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Police officers, later joined by EMS, conducted infant CPR and then transported the baby to Hackensack University Medical Center to be placed on life support, NJ.com reported.

In addition to the GoFundMe page created by DiFranco, a separate page has been created by Alissa Cabrera Farese. As of Christmas morning, it had raised $1,855 toward a $2,500 goal.

The strings of our hearts are so heavy for them, and we hope that our love, support, and dedication to 'springing into action' to honor their baby can help to raise them up from this devastation," Cabrera Farese wrote.

Her GoFundMe, she wrote, is focused "solely on a creating a way to honor Reece by planting new life and watching it grow (tree), while also creating a place for reflection in permanent existence in honor of sweet Reece (bench). If additional funds are available beyond the expenses of the tree and bench, then surely those funds will be given directly to Mark and Nicole."

— With prior reporting by Avalon Zoppo