Florence Ficco was a big name in the small town of Petaluma, California, for many years, but only a few people had the privilege and honor of calling her “gramma”. In addition to Pieter, she serves as another main inspiration for my future medical goals.

Gramma was a petite, 100% Italian woman with a love and passion for cooking and golf. Gramma was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003, however, she did not cease cooking or creating new entrees for us to enjoy. Every visit to Gramma’s house contained a homemade, authentic Italian meal, complete with dessert, popcorn, and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Before I was born, Gramma and Papa owned the local grocery store on Fair Street, giving away free candy to the kids stopping in on their way home from school. These kids were lucky enough to get a little sneak peek into the lives of Gramma’s own grandchildren. When Gramma was not cooking, playing with her grandchildren, or giving free sweets to the neighborhood kids, she was found on the golf course. Golf was a life long passion for my gramma and she played religiously up until the last few months of her life. Her diagnosis of lung cancer was not entirely a shock, considering that she had been a smoker her entire life. However, that did not make it any easier to accept her diagnosis. My gramma was an amazing, multi-faceted woman, and I can trace my love of Italian food and sweets back to her.