ITALIA: A Memoir

Italia lived for only seven months. She changed everything. Steven Gabriel Puglia was nineteen when his baby daughter was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. For five months, he learned the language of hospital corridors, blood counts, chemotherapy, and the quiet terror of waiting for the next breath. After she died in his arms, he had to learn how to carry her through the rest of his life. ITALIA is a father's unguarded memoir of love, illness, loss, and the work grief finds when it refuses to disappear. From the months spent in the cancer ward to the butterfly that landed on his finger in a blizzard, Steven tells the story without easy answers or borrowed comfort. Written for bereaved parents, families, caregivers, and anyone trying to keep breathing after the person they love is gone, the book also includes gentle reflection pages, grounding exercises, and crisis resources for readers facing their darkest hours. It does not promise that grief ends. It offers something more honest: company.