NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. — “I knew for 18 years that I would outlive my children,” says single mother Liz Naylor.
Twenty-year-old Giacomo Naylor, Gianna Naylor, sixteen-year-old Lukas Naylor and thirteen-year-old Isadora Naylor were all born with myotonic dystrophy – a genetic condition that causes muscles to waste away.
“It’s a disease that is a setback in every pregnancy,” says Liz Naylor. “So it’s a 50/50 shot and I’ve struck gold with every one of them.”
Gianna Naylor died at the age of 16 – a loss that Liz Naylor said was tragic and beautiful. “She was so determined to go out on her own terms and Giacomo Naylor is now doing the exact same thing.”
But there’s one thing Giacomo Naylor wants to do differently.
“I don’t want to die in a hospital,” Giacomo Naylor told his mother.
So they do what the family loves most: traveling. I call this road trip “G’s Last Stand”.
“I’ve never been so ready for anything in my life!” Liz Naylor told WCCO. “It’s getting chilly in Philly.”
From Philly it’s a tour of the southern states and even a few “haunted places” and Legolands at the request of Giacomo Naylor. The Naylors then tour California and return to Minnesota via Montana.
When asked which part he’s most excited about, Giacomo Naylor said: The Alamo and anywhere else in the South, because there’s no snow. The Naylors and their personal care assistant, Isbella Olson, began their roughly month-long journey Wednesday in “Fortuna” – their ’95 Ford conversion van.
And yes, Gianna Naylor is with them in spirit.
Liz Naylor
“It’s really hard to think about, but I try to remind myself to stay in the present,” Olson said.
“G is amazing, he is a rock star and he stands,” said caregiver Seray Lansana.
“I think every time I come home I know it’s the last time I see someone and usually you don’t know who, but this time you know who it is,” said Tina Richardson, Liz’s sister who lived for one has flown out of New Zealand once. last hug.
Momma Bear Liz Naylor also combines high school, a small business, and her own nonprofit called “My-Vida,” which helps promote healing.
“It’s so hard to be sad when there is so much joy and love around us,” Liz Naylor added. “Everyone should be able to leave this world with as much autonomy and dignity, as much comfort and as much joy.”
And there is one dream in which ‘G’ makes it through the entire journey.
Visit G’s Last Stand on GoFundMe.
To follow Naylor’s journey in “G’s Last Stand,” stay tuned to WCCO all month long.
Frankie McLister
