Orlando bloodbath: Tragedy points to a never-ending need

By Don Kirkland & Joyce Coronel

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Branden Lombardi, pictured here with his daughter Sophia, received numerous blood transfusions during the course of his cancer treatment.
Branden Lombardi, pictured here with his daughter Sophia, received numerous blood transfusions during the course of his cancer treatment. (Photo courtesy of United Blood Services)

As television coverage documented the horror of the Orlando mass shootings and the resulting   urgent call for blood donors, Branden Lombardi couldn’t help but remember his own crisis and how people responded to help save his life.

Lombardi’s case was vastly different—no maniacal shooter, no throngs of wounded on the sidelines—but his experience was nonetheless a life-altering moment, one that gave him the determination to motivate others to donate blood, even when the story didn’t explode in headlines around the world.

Now the south Tempe’s resident’s voice joins a chorus of others issuing a reminder that the need for blood never goes away.

For Lombardi, now 32 and a healthy, happy father, his was a much more personal crisis. A diagnosis of bone cancer during his teenage years required multiple transfusions, and only so much help was available from family and friends. That was when other generous blood donors came forward, after which Lombardi made a lifelong promise to give to others as they had given to him.

It’s a mission he has pursued untiringly for more than a decade through his Branden Lombardi Foundation, a nonprofit focused on improving the quality of life for cancer patients. But now, with the staggering loss of life in Orlando  and the numbers of critically wounded who needed blood to survive, his message takes on even broader significance.

Lombardi remains grateful to those who have given blood regularly, not only because they provided him with a precious gift in his time of need but because their concern for others has helped many facing a similar crisis.

The story of his commitment dates back almost 20 years to the time when, as a high school senior, he played goalie on his school’s hockey team. But a left knee injury during practice, which initially was thought to be a torn knee ligament, landed him in the doctor’s office.

A follow-up visit to an orthopedic surgeon recommended a magnetic resonance imaging scan, or MRI, which showed a “hot spot” just below the knee. While Lombardi and his family remained unconcerned by this new information, the surgeon ordered additional tests. Then, less than two months after the initial injury, Lombardi and his family had the answer: osteogenic sarcoma, or bone cancer.

Treatment began the week after Christmas 1998, including three months of chemotherapy followed by surgery to remove the primary tumor and reconstruct his left leg, ultimately requiring a total knee replacement. It was during that period, after one of his early rounds of chemotherapy, that Lombardi received the first of more than 30 red blood cell transfusions.

Despite spending more time in the hospital than in the classroom, Lombardi graduated from high school in May 1999, joining his classmates in the celebration. Unfortunately, the celebration was short lived.

Routine follow-up tests revealed that the cancer had spread. More than 50 nodules subsequently were removed from his lungs during five surgeries, in between which Lombardi endured additional chemotherapy treatments.

After doctors determined that the disease was too aggressive to continue with conventional treatment and surgery, a stem cell transplant was recommended. Fortunately, Lombardi could use his own cells for the procedure, which was performed in October 2001. For the first 30 days following the transplant, Lombardi required daily transfusions of red blood cells and platelets.

It was as a result of those herculean efforts to save his life—and while he was still undergoing treatment—that Lombardi launched his first fundraiser, a golf tournament he called “Chip In to Fight Cancer.”

The event raised $20,000, which Lombardi used to purchase amenities that would help other patients escape the rigors of their treatments and regain a sense of normalcy, even if for only a short while.

A year later, while preparing for a stem cell transplant, Lombardi launched his foundation, to which he says he remains as committed as ever. Its mission: to serve thousands of cancer patients, survivors and their families through a variety of programs and partnerships with hospitals and cancer centers across Arizona.

Today, Lombardi’s day-to-day energies revolve around his work as co-founder and principal of a residential land investment and development company.

His greatest loves, he says, are being a father to his six-year-old daughter Sophie and, of course, being cancer free.

Another Tempean joins the fight

The life-saving treatment Lombardi received is due in part to the numerous blood transfusions he received throughout his cancer treatment, he says. Those wouldn’t be possible, Lombardi notes, without the efforts of people like Bill Alexander, another Tempe resident.

Over the last 61 years, Alexander has donated blood 304 times, for a whopping 37 gallons of the lifesaving elixir.

“There’s no way we can replicate blood, so if you don’t take the time to give it and someone needs it, it’s going to be a real short life for that person,” Alexander said.

Of the eight types of blood humans have, Alexander’s is O negative, known as the highly prized “universal donor.” Only six percent of the population has it. Anyone, no matter which blood type, can receive Alexander’s blood.

“Over the years I’ve donated each time I was allowed. I always encourage people and tell them how much we need your blood no matter which one of the eight it is.”

Information: unitedbloodservices.org

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