12/12/2025
A year ago today, I stood in Giacomo’s room and made final preparations and last-minute packing adjustments as we loaded up and embarked on G’s Last Stand—-the “Road Trip of a Lifetime” and his final earthly rendezvous. Though I had already come to grips with the fact that his days were numbered, and we had a full trip planned that included him arriving back home, as I stood by his bed, prepping things, I remember very vividly the moment that I KNEW he would never again grace this house with his presence, once we walked out the door and hopped into Fortuna, as cameras were rolling to capture the incredible and courageous story of how he was choosing to spend his remaining bits of life as we know it, which captured said moment in this screenshot…
Normally, when we traveled, I would make sure that we were set up for success upon arrival home, and that always included having a fresh set of circuit parts on his ventilator and everything clean and in order to minimize post-vacation stress. On the afternoon of December 11, 2024, I started to reach for those parts out of the supply drawers under his bed, and then I stopped myself…. Because I knew….I KNEW there would be no need for a clean ventilator when we got home… Because there would be no Giacomo coming home with us to use it…
I KNEW in my core and deep within my spirit that remains connected to his and to Gianna’s that we would depart with four of us left in the earthside Naylor clan, and be down another member whenever it was time for us to return, having no clue that it would be two months later or how any of it would evolve…
I KNEW, just as I KNEW starting when he was two years old that something wasn’t quite right and began the arduous, tenacious, and medically abrasive journey of trying to figure out what that something was…a journey of 4 1/2 years.
(This is the part where I have to set the record straight, just in case any of you decide to rewatch the video that WCCO aired and have/had questions… In our initial interview about a week before we left, in a swirl of emotions, I misspoke and said that I had known for 18 years that I was going to outlive my kids… I immediately corrected myself and said that I had known for 14 years that I would likely survive beyond them, but we had been on the journey of Giacomo’s medical situation for 18, as I included the time spent being dismissed by doctors, multiple misdiagnoses, and countless curious musings without any answers…However, WCCO ran with the mistake, and subsequently, a bunch of internet trolls got a hold of it, and came up with this notion that I was some kind of “psycho” who knowingly had children with a disease that I knew was fatal, which was NOT true, as we got the diagnosis when I was seven months pregnant with Isadora, got Lukas and Gianna’s diagnoses the day after she was born, and Isadora’s diagnosis two weeks later…. I hadn’t intended to give the trolls any attention, but just in case anyone has questions as to the timeline, there it is.)
Back to the more important part of this little stroll down memory lane…
G’s Last Stand was beyond anything that I could’ve ever imagined for him and for our family. I want to once again extend unlimited and immeasurable gratitude for everybody that contributed to the trip, supported our journey, followed along, and continues to do so. There are some big things in the works for me as I near the end of my doctoral program and one of the plans is to create a “G’s Last Stand” fund as part of our nonprofit organization, My-Vida, to help other people at the end of their earthly time have the opportunity to create as much peace and joy as possible, in whatever way suits them. Stay tuned for all that, but in the meantime….
LOVE with reckless abandon, take NOTHING for granted, LIVE your life, and when the s**t hits the fan, be on the lookout for a red tailed hawk, channel some inner G and…
STAY FIERCE! 💙💙💪💪💙💙
