A symbolic collision of my birthplace, my Italian heritage, and my advanced-stage breast cancer diagnosis in 2004 occurred more than 60 years after my birth. I was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, the second of four children to Antoinette and Stephen Marcucci.

My maternal grandmother and paternal great grandparents said ‘arrivederci’ to their families and their homeland of Italy to immigrate to the United States to achieve the American Dream. With little money and a very limited, if any, English vocabulary, they possessed a grandiose spirit as they embraced their new homeland - America - the land of opportunity.