Mom, has passed, it’s time for me.

Sam Paniccia Start Date: Feb 29, 2024 - End Date: Jun 28, 2024
  • Caribbean Netherlands
  • Bahamas, The Bahamas

My Travel Story

by: Sam Paniccia Start Date: Feb 29, 2024 - End Date: Jun 28, 2024
"In 2013, I faced a tough choice: selling my restaurant to care for my Uncle Sam, honoring my aunt's final wish. With the education of a 16-year-old, Uncle Sam dedicated 30 years to working in the County parks, but he couldn't manage on his own. Despite already caring for my mom, I willingly took on this added responsibility. However, by 2018, Uncle Sam needed professional care after the hospital didn't give him his Parkinson's meds for 21 days during a long hospital stay. To make matters worse, they sent him to their rehab, where they again didn't give him his meds for a week. A fall at the nursing home led to a hospital stay, where he contracted Covid in 2019. Tragically, he suffered a massive heart attack on the operating table. At 6:00 in the morning, the doctor called and said he was dying on the table. It was brutal. His passing deeply affected me, and I still feel responsible for not keeping him safe. At 80 years old, he wasn't mentally prepared to go, leaving behind memories of a kind and gentle soul.

I had been helping out my mom after my father's death in 2002, after moving back from California. My mom, who had undergone brain surgeries in 2007 and 2010 for AVM, a brain disorder, resided with us and faced numerous health challenges. Her deteriorating condition in the last few years, worsened by COPD and sciatica, caused immense pain. Tragically, she contracted Covid while hospitalized after coughing up blood and succumbed to its complications, leaving irreparable damage to her lungs. These losses weigh heavily on my heart. Those who trivialize the severity of Covid should feel ashamed.

To make matters worse, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022. It was a slow form of the disease, and everything looks good after radiation treatments. I was lucky and healthy enough to still care for my mom.

It's been five years since I went anywhere, and living on $200 every two weeks, and selling a few things on eBay for the past decade, hasn't allowed me to save money. I love the water in California, and the warm waters of the Caribbean sound amazing. I've never been on a cruise and think that's the way I want to do the caribbean!if funded! 

In conclusion, I heard about this site on Youtube and figured, why not. I had a good life in California, before moving back to take care of my family. I really don't know what lies ahead, but at 61, I would like to travel and see some of the world. This is being posted the day after my moms passing. Definitely, the roughest five weeks of my life."
 

  • Caribbean Netherlands
  • Bahamas, The Bahamas

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