A young man's mission lives on in memorial fund

It's been nine years since the man whose nickname was "the Energizer Bunny" died from heart surgery complications.

Tom Giannattasio But Tom Giannattasio's parents don't want people to forget their only son, their only child, who died at 28. They don't want people to forget the young man who was a dedicated member of the Pioneer Hose Fire Company, the Community First Aid Squad, the Brick Township Underwater Rescue and Dive Team, and the Army National Guard.

So they soldier on. Each year, Linda and Tom Sr. coordinate several events to raise money for worthy causes, all in their son's name. The three-day Holiday Arts and Crafts Show at the firehouse after Thanksgiving was just one of them.

"It's very difficult," said his mother, Linda, a retired Brick 911 police dispatcher. "He was a fine young man. My husband and I got through it together, with all of our friends and Tommy's friends. They help us."

The Tom Giannattasio Jr. Memorial Fund was born shortly after he died on Oct. 8, 1999, at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

COURTESY OF THE GIANNATTASIO FAMILY Tom Giannattasio Jr., his father Tom Sr. and mother Linda pose for the cameras at Temple University Hospital at Christmas 1998. "We decided to create the memorial fund to help others," Linda said. "The fund goes to firefighters, EMS personnel and heart transplant patients."

Tom Jr. wanted to be a flight medic or a flight nurse. He was well on his way before his illness struck. He worked for the Liberty Health Care Systemat Jersey City Medical Center. He worked part time with Alert Ambulance Service as an emergency medical technician.

"He was in paramedic school when he got sick," his mother said. "They called him the Energizer Bunny."

But in May 1998, Giannattasio began to slow down. The 27-year-old felt tired and sluggish. He coughed constantly. He was diagnosed with hypertension and post-nasal drip after a trip to an area hospital. But what Tom Giannattasio really had was far worse.

His parents took him to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Sometime, somehow, somewhere, he had contracted a virus that attacked his heart. Doctors told the family he needed a heart transplant.

"Learning this took our life and our breath away, and our lives changed at that moment," his mother wrote on the Web site at www.tomgjr.memorialfund.com. "Your son and only child needs a new heart."

Tom was sent home that summer with medications to ease his symptoms. But the drugs didn't help. He was admitted to Temple on Aug. 28, 1998, where he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and viral cardiomyopathy.

The seventh floor of the hospital, dubbed "The Heart Failure Hotel," became his new home. In time, Giannattasio was dubbed "mayor" of the floor because he had been there the longest.

Tom got his new heart on May 23, 1999. The surgery went off without a hitch.

"Our prayers were answered, so we thought," his mother wrote on the Web site.

Giannattasio came home. Brick fire trucks and ambulances escorted him home, where neighbors had decorated his parents' house with red heart balloons.

But two weeks later, he was back at Temple for two weeks of treatment for a recurrent chest infection. He came back home Aug. 4 but still felt sick.

"He would tell us he was OK, but we knew he was not feeling good," Linda said.

Tom began running a fever. By the middle of September, he was back in Temple. He was diagnosed with a virulent methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.

"They were pouring Vancomycin directly into him," his mother said. "They couldn't get rid of the fever."

Doctors opened up Giannattasio's chest 14 times in an effort to stem the infection.

"It was taking a toll on us and him," his mother said. "He gave it the fight of his life, let me tell you."

Tom Giannattasio Jr. died Oct. 8, 1999. The infection had eroded his aorta.

His mother hopes that people will remember what kind of person their son was. The boy who was born on Mother's Day 1971 just wanted to help people.

"He would just drop everything and go help everybody," Linda Giannattasio said. "Everyone's needs came before his own, even as a child. He never wanted a thank you. He just felt that's what he was here to do. We were really proud of him."

The next fundraiser, a live auction and cocktail party at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, is slated for Dec. 4.

More information about the memorial fund is available on the Web site, www.tomgjr.memorialfund. com.

Contact Patricia A. Miller at bulletin@gmnews.com.