Volunteer Spotlight: Bob Panza
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Tell us about yourself.
I have been married to my lovely wife, Ann for almost 39 years. We are the very proud parents of two kids - Melissa and Nick. Both are married and we have been blessed with four beautiful grandchildren. I served as a municipal police department captain in Southern California for 30 years. I retired almost 11 years ago and am thoroughly enjoying life!
How did you connect with us?
About 14 years ago, a fellow police officer’s teenage daughter, Brandii, was diagnosed with cancer. She and my daughter were close in age. Melissa and I worked with my department to organize a donor drive where we had close to 300 people join the Registry.
Unfortunately, Brandii never found a match and she passed away in 2005. At the time, I was attending a training course at the FBI Academy. Brandii inspired me to organize a donor drive in her honor and we had about 250 more people join the registry.
Tell us about being an advocate.
Initially, I was a bit nervous simply because I wanted to be the best representative of the NMDP/Be The Match as I possibly could, so I put a lot of pressure on myself at first. But then I took a deep breath and let it sink in that I was advocating for a great cause which I believed in very deeply. Once I let that sink in and envelope me, I merely rehearsed what we had been taught back in September and my apprehension turned into sheer exhilaration, excitement and anticipation.
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