This summer, I had the privilege of getting to know Gina Riggio. She has just turned thirty, and she’s also just had the first of what she expects to be three surgeries as she proceeds toward a J pouch. She is a singer, songwriter, and pianist, and one of the things that so impressed me about her was the way her music carried her through the emotional vicissitudes of illness and surgery. I was so moved by her latest song, “No Guarantee,” written just days before surgery, that I interviewed her and wrote an article about her for the December 2010 issue of The Phoenix magazine.
One of the things that is very special about this article is that it looks at surgery through the eyes of someone going through it. I interviewed Gina the day before she headed to the hospital, again in the days after surgery as she recovered in the hospital, and finally as she healed from surgery at home and returned to work. This is a story that is optimistic and hopeful – but it also gives up close, personal reflections of the hopes, fears, frustrations, and anxieties that a person feels as she makes this big change. Gina moved through it with bravery – and before long, not only had she returned to work, but she was back on stage, performing live! To hear her song No Guarantee, you can stream it from her website: Gina Riggo
Please check out the article and Gina’s new song! And good luck to Gina as she performs live this Friday 12/3 at 2 PM EST on her local college radio station (The Lion (Penn State) and as she gears up for her second surgery in January.
Hey! I meant to comment on here ages ago. Thank you for posting this here! I hope people went to my site and listened to the song. I hope this song reminds them that they are not alone in feeling like life is crazy. Because it is. So you just hold on tight and try to enjoy the ride!!!!!!!!!!!
By: GR on December 23, 2010
at 2:13 am