OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) — Gianna Buzzetta, a 26-year-old rising culinary star and executive pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Jeune et Jolie restaurant in Carlsbad, California, died last weekend while on vacation in Hawaii.
According to Buzzetta's parents, Caty and Sal, their daughter was fulfilling a lifelong dream to see a waterfall on the island of Kauai when the unthinkable happened.
"She had told her boyfriend, Connor, that day, he had fulfilled her dreams and it was the best day of her life," Caty Buzzetta said in an interview.
However, shortly after making it to the Makaleha Falls waterfall on March 23, and standing in the pool below, a falling boulder struck Gianna, according to fire officials.
“They heard a really loud noise. He looked up, but couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. Within a second, it happened … The rock dislodged from quite a ways up … then it landed on her,” said Sal Buzzetta.
Caty says a frantic Connor pulled her from the water, but with no phone service, he had to run to get help. Gianna was eventually airlifted to a hospital, where she passed away. Her parents were able to fly to Hawaii in time to say goodbye.
"Something and missing inside you, a part of us,” said Sal Buzzetta.
“It’s like something is sucked out of you," Caty Buzzetta said.
Caty Buzzetta described her daughter as "beyond determined" and said she poured her love into her work as a chef, as a way of showing people that she loved them.
The Buzzetta family is leaning on their faith to get through this tragic loss, finding some comfort in the fact that Gianna's last moments were spent in the beauty of nature, doing what she loved, and with the love of her life.
"She was in nature. That was her element. She was with the love of her life," Caty said. "In a glimpse of time, she had pure bliss, no one could take that form her or us. She was living in moment best she every had, and that's priceless.”
An online fundraiser has been set up to help the family with funeral and other expenses.
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