 Jeanine Gore, Assistant News Editor,April
24, 2002
A 20-year-old Chico State University junior known for her bright
red hair, beautiful smile and love of music died after an
operation on her brain April 15.
Emily Susanne Picco, a communication design major, was rushed to
surgery after a CT scan revealed a darkened abnormality in her
brain. She lost consciousness at Enloe Medical Center, was flown
to surgery at UC Davis Medical Center where she later died from
complications to an arterial stroke. She had complained of strong
headaches for at least a month before doctors discovered her
condition.
"It was very sudden," said her mother Lynn Picco.
"We thought it was a migraine until the end." Emily was
a "beautiful little redhead with porcelain skin and big blue
eyes" who was always willing to help those in need, she
said. Within 24 hours of Emily's death, her organs
were donated to medical centers throughout California.
"Her heart we know is in San Diego as well as her lungs
so that we know three people are now able to live." Lynn
said.
Emily loved hiking, swimming, snow skiing, water-skiing - anything
outdoors. She was a shy child with great determination.
"When she was a little girl she used to hold her breath until
she got her way," Lynn said.
Jennifer Meadows, a communication design professor who was also
her academic adviser, said she was "a delightful person,
highly motivated, very intelligent."
"Our whole department is in mourning over this," Meadows
said. "Emily will be greatly missed."
The university flag is lowered in her memory.
"She had a fire in her personality," her sister Laura
Froome said. "She was a risk taker and lived each day to the
fullest."
In addition to school, Picco had worked for two years in news
production at Channel 24 KNVN.
"She had great potential and was being groomed to be a
director," said Scott Howard, news director at KNVN and KHSL.
"It was just much too sudden, much too unbelievable when we
heard she was severely sick," Howard said. "What we
thought to be migraine headaches ... Now we know that something
very bad was happening. In the end I think the doctors were still
pretty baffled. It's left a lot of people heartbroken
because she was really special," Howard said. "She was
great; just a kick to be around. She was like a movie that you
knew would have a happy ending."
A scholarship fund for high school seniors interested in news
production has been established in Picco's name.
-- Reprinted from The
Orion, © 2002 The Orion |
