The Ruffino family has run out of space, but doubled in love.  Laura and Rico Ruffino, parents to two daughters, recently got four more girls — the children of a dear friend who died of brain cancer.  “When the girls’ mom was dying, I made her two promises,” Laura Ruffino told the Daily News.  “I told her we would talk about her every day and her girls would know her and remember her — and I said I would somehow get them rooms of their own,” the 41-year-old said.  The first pledge has been easy, Ruffino said. But the second, not so much.  She met Elizabeth Diamond when they were both 5 years old.  The two grew up together in Buffalo, and they eventually became moms — each with daughters.  Diamond, 40, was a single mother to Lilyan, Ella, Samona and Tara, who range in age from 5 to 12.  She was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer in August — and worried that after she passed, her girls would have nowhere to go.  That’s when Ruffino and her husband stepped in.  When Diamond died in April, the family began the formal process of adopting her girls.  But finding the space to live together in their Orchard Park, N.Y., home required some sacrifices.  Ruffino’s daughters, Grace 12, and Isabella, 13, gave up their two rooms to the Diamond sisters — so the newly transplanted siblings could sleep close to each other.  Isabella now sleeps in a closet in her parents’ room and Grace inhabits her mother’s office — and the office is now in the living room.  “We make it work,” laughed Ruffino. “Every day we just make it work.”  It helps, she said, that she has a supportive partner who doesn’t mind being outnumbered 7-to-1.  “Ric is great, he’s the best dad ever,” Ruffino said.  While the family is a bit squeezed now, great plans are afoot to expand into the garage.  “We could get bedrooms there for the girls, maybe a playroom in the basement,” said Ruffino. “I plan on keeping my promise to the girls’ mom.”  When word of their plight circulated, local businesses offered to donate labor if the Ruffinos could buy materials.  The Buffalo Wellness Center, were Diamond was a board member, set up a fund-raising page. It’s already taken in more than $5,000 for the girls.  “I’m in awe of the love and generosity we’re getting,” said Ruffino. “I feel like Liz has her hand in all this and as a family we’re just getting stronger.”  ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
An upstate New York woman fulfilled her best friend's dying wish by adopting her four daughters after she lost her battle with brain cancer.