07/26/2025
Bereaved Parents Awareness Month Day 25…
July is Bereaved Parents Awareness Month. Just as I did last year at this time, for my beloved and sweet Gianna 💜💖, I’m dedicating a photo each day to my uniquely magnificent Giacomo, taken on that day in amazing history of his life…It’s an important part of my grief journey to meander through memories with great intention each day, keeping alive and honoring G’s phenomenal Divine Spark and the mark he left on this earthly dimension… 💙💫✨🌟💙
July 25, 2023
-I initially hesitated about using this photo or any of the ones from Giacomo’s hospitalization from July of 2023, as it was such a crazy stressful time and felt a bit too traumatic to look back at what was essentially the beginning of the end for him…so not really a happy memory…But the more I thought about it, it was actually one of the many times in his life that demonstrated his courage, fortitude, and determination, so I would be remiss NOT to include it…
Landing in the hospital was incredibly unexpected, as G had avoided the place for nearly four years since his near-death experience that led to the trach back in 2019. I was told by every single staff member and doctor that this was a true miracle, as typically trach kids end up hospitalized with a decent amount of frequency…That “miracle” aside, Giacomo being admitted with the EXACT same anti-biotic-resistant pseudomonas bacteria that led to Gianna’s fatal pneumonia only four months prior—-well, that just felt like some sick joke from the universe…
We were all terrified, but especially G who was pretty worried he wasn’t going to get out of there alive when he was admitted about a week before this photo was taken, having just seen sister’s life abruptly taken from her. My instincts told me that it wasn’t quite time, but felt the fragility lingering in the air. In an attempt to validate his fears, root us both in reality, and encourage Giacomo, I told him, “Well, if you’re getting close, it’s time to seriously make that bucket list and start planning some trips.”
And that’s what we did.
I distinctly remember the day I took this photo, as he was finally starting to turn a corner, had spent time playing on the Wii in the family lounge with his siblings, excitedly started putting together a new LEGO set (that fittingly included an infirmary,) and most importantly, decided that he didn’t think he was going to die at that time. That meant, in both of our eyes, that we could truly start planning out the first stop on his bucket list—the Eastern State Penitentiary, in Philadelphia.
We did land there only a few months later in October of that year, shortly after, yet another, hospitalization, where that trip served as a fantastic “eye on the prize” motivation to get better, making the Penitentiary technically the first stop, and perhaps the most significant, on “G’s Last Stand.” 💙
