Victoria Andler '18
Marco Giannino ’20 started his first year at Siena College just like every other Saint. He made new friends, got to know his roommate, and became adjusted to the world of college academics.
As a freshman, Giannino was taking a First-Year Seminar (FYS) class as part of his core curriculum. He chose the FYS class, “Exploring Death- To Save Your Life,” taught by Professor Suzanne Allegretti, because he thought it would help him deal with the impending loss of his grandfather. Little did Giannino know he would be facing death himself.
Just like every college student has experienced, he got sick. After taking a trip to the Heath Services Office, Giannino ended up testing positive for Mononucleosis, more commonly referred to as Mono. It was close to Siena’s Thanksgiving break and he decided to go home early to recover so he could have a strong finish to his first semester of college. It never crossed his mind that after the turkey was finished and the family had gone home, he wouldn’t be coming back to school.
After visiting multiple doctors and being continually misdiagnosed, Giannino was finally diagnosed with Lemierre’s Syndrome, a very rare and deadly bacterial blood infection. Because of his numerous misdiagnoses, he almost died from his disease.
“To me, and to probably every young adult, dying seemed like something that was going to come years down the road,” said Giannino. “However, when I faced death in that hospital room when I got really sick, I realized that death is something that everyone should be thinking about and is something that is very unexpected and can happen at any moment.”
Thankfully, Giannino recovered and was able to come back to Siena. Upon returning to his FYS class, he wanted to share what he learned about life, how the “Exploring Death” class helped him and how the love and support of his friends at Siena sustained him.
“My First-Year Seminar class taught me to live every day of my life to the fullest and to cherish the people and things I have in my life. There is so much in all of our lives to be thankful for and we should all be blessed to be getting a great education here at Siena College surrounded by friends, family, and an amazing group of professors.”
He recently told his story and his near-death experience at the First Year Seminar Conference on April 26. His goal was to share about how his experience changed his outlook on life but also spread the word about this disease to peers, parents, teachers, doctors, and others so that Lemierre’s Syndrome won’t ever be misdiagnosed again.
