When my in-laws (at that time my boyfriend’s parents) generously invited me in 2019 to join their upcoming family trip to Kenya I didn’t hesitate before readily accepting! Doing a safari in Africa had always been a bucket-list travel destination, but one I’d always assumed would need to take place much later in life when I’d hopefully have the means to make such a trip possible. I also had admittedly always been a little nervous about the idea of going to Africa for the first time so being able to go with G’s parents who have both lived in Kenya and visit often sounded pretty great.
In case you’re going “wait, isn’t G’s mom Italian and G’s dad Canadian? They lived in Kenya?!” Here’s some quick, and I think super cool, history on their connection: G’s mom Letizia is Italian. Her Italian father worked for the United Nations and was stationed in Iran, so she was born there and grew up there for some time. Shorty before the revolution, he got stationed in Nairobi, Kenya, then the Congo, then Egypt, and then back to Kenya - Letizia, her sisters, and mom along for the adventure. After the second time living in Kenya, Letizia went to get her master’s at Cornell where she met a handsome adventurous smart Canadian dude (G’s dad Murray). They fell in love, got married in Nairobi in 1986, and then lived in Kenya for a year before eventually moving to Minnesota. It's in Minnesota in 1993 where they gave birth to my triple passport holding husband, G. Letizia’s parents lived in Kenya for 15 years and she and Murray visited them every year and planned many trips that G and his siblings have joined over the years.
When they extended the invite for me to join on their next safari adventure, we didn’t know then the trip would need to take a backseat and be postponed quite a few times before we’d actually take flight. Shortly after the planning began, Covid happened and Murray’s stage 2 cancer diagnosis became stage 4 and he was given 6 months to live. And so began what would be a nearly 4-year battle to beat cancer and survive without a stomach, half an esophagus, a spleen, and countless other cancer-infected organs that had to be hacked out, as well as the surgery associated health complications. Through the many scares and countless trips and stays to Mayo Clinic and the emergency room, the trip to their beloved Kenya, albeit ever moving, remained a light.
And there were many scares, like when two weeks after Murray’s big tumor-removing surgery in 2020 when he collapsed without a heartbeat or pulse in their home in Minnesota. Letizia brought him back to life where he had collapsed on their floor using CPR and sheer power of will - screaming orders at the arriving EMT’s to put away the body bag and life-flight her husband to Mayo. Murray would flatline again that day. For the amount of time without a heart beat or pulse, he was considered medically dead. He was then put into a medically induced coma. After weeks in the hospital, he went home but the journey to health and Kenya was still far in the distance. In 2022, Murray had to rely completely on a TPN - when he stepped in to do the father-daughter dance with me at G and my wedding this past June (we did a choreographed disco to a song of Murray’s choice…. “staying alive”, naturally) he had not had a sip of water or morsel of food pass his lips in 8 months. Still, save G and I, you would’ve been hard pressed to find the next happiest person in the room (well maybe he and my mom were tied 😉). G and his mom danced the mother-son to “Africa” by Toto.
This fall, Murray was able to start eating again.
In December, the final piece of plastic was removed from his body and the TPN hole (save some leakage he’s still dealing with) closed up. We did a tester trip to Puerto Vallarta for the holiday and on January 17, Letizia, Murray, and G’s sister Irina checked in at the Minneapolis international airport for Nairobi. G and I would fly out Jan 21 and meet the family for a two-week adventure that would include a beach stay in the Swahili town of Lamu on Shela Island, followed by a 3-stop safari adventure first in the Maasai Mara/Masai Mara (Offbeat Ndoto camp), Samburu (Elephant Watch Camp), and Nairobi (staying in Nairobi National Park). G and I would depart Feb 3 to return to our respective jobs after two weeks away, while Murray, Letizia, and Irina would travel on to South Africa to get Irina checked in to the University of Stellenbosch where she’ll be getting her master's in animal conservation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick links below:
- Lamu,Shela Island, Kenya
- Safari- Masai Mara/Maasai Mara, Kenya
- Safari - Samburu, Elephant Watch Camp, Kenya
- Safari-Nairobi, Kenya
Enjoy!
And
for more photos and videos, follow my story highlights on Instagram
@LaineyBoggz
Comments
Post a Comment