Bergen County School Nurse, Diagnosed With Cancer After Learning Of Pregnancy, Dies At 40

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Days after finding out that she was pregnant with her fourth child in summer 2024, a Ridgewood mom learened she had cancer. On Wednesday, she died at home.

According to her obituary, Kimberly Ramos Castelli was a gifted nurse who had worked at Sloan Kettering hospital in New York and most recently, Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock.

She found out she was pregnant with her fourth daughter in summer 2024. When she began her medical scans, she learned she had metastatic colon cancer.

Scientists have said that colon cancer in adults under 50 has been on the rise since the mid-1990s.

Castelli was married to an Army Ranger whom she had met through friends in her native Montclair. They had moved to Ridgewood in 2017.

After her diagnosis, "Kim’s unwavering Catholic faith and belief in God’s plan gave her the courage to begin treatment while pregnant with her baby girl, Catherine Gianna, who arrived early and healthy in February 2025," the obit says. "...Kim’s final days were spent at home, with her family enveloping her in gentle comfort."

A food delivery fundraiser page for her family says, "She resembles the closest thing to a saint that we’ve ever met."

A scholarship has been started in her honor.

Services will be held this Monday and Tuesday. Her obituary is here.

RELATED: Diagnosed With Colon Cancer In Her 20s, Bergen County Woman Starts Podcast