Divine Intervention

How a Conversation in a Hallway Saved this Man's Life

Brandon Mantz shouldn’t be here in this gym, working out. Three years ago a skiing accident left the Wisconsin native bleeding to death on the slopes of a Colorado ski resort. “The doctors told me that most people don’t survive after losing two liters of blood,” he says. “I lost three.”

Brandon’s remarkable survival story starts long before he was airlifted by Lifeguard 2—Summit County’s Flight For Life helicopter—from the high peaks to the Level 1 Trauma Center at St. Anthony Hospital. It starts long before his broken body was connected to a Belmont Rapid Infuser, a machine that delivers high volumes of warmed blood and fluids to critical patients at rapid speed. It starts long before his multiple surgeries at St. Anthony’s and his six-week rehabilitation at Craig Hospital. The story of Brandon’s second chance started quietly in the hallway of St. Anthony Hospital one afternoon almost three years ago.

The Foundation Executive Director was on her way to a meeting. In a hallway, she bumped into a nurse from the trauma services department. She told her the trauma team was in desperate need of a blood transfuser to help their worst cases survive. At $20,000 each, transfusers aren’t cheap. Trauma Services needed three—one for the dedicated operating room known as T-10, one for the intensive care unit and one for the emergency department.

The request was immediately brought to the Foundation Board of Directors. It was quickly approved. No one could have known then just how many lives it would save, how many second chances it would give.

Today the answer is clearer. Laura Harwood, Trauma Program Specialist at St. Anthony Hospital, has the stats. “When the first Belmont Infuser went into service in October 2017 it was the first west of the Mississippi River. Two years later, just before Brandon arrived, the three transfusers had been used to help 97 patients. “There is no doubt they have saved the lives of people who would have otherwise died,” Laura says.

That’s the thing about second chances. You realize just how much you want to do with your life.

— Brandon Mantz

The Belmont Infuser saved Brandon’s life, but it couldn’t restore the damage to his shattered spine. Brandon navigates the gym in a wheelchair. It hasn’t slowed him down. He works out regularly. “It helps me get better at moving from the couch to the car,” he laughs as he heads over to the gymnast rings. “It’s also important for me to keep my body in shape. I want to be ready for when they figure out how to fix spinal cord damage.”

He hoists himself up on the rings. “Before my accident I was just going through life,” he says, balancing on the rings. “Not anymore. Now I’m more aware of everyone else. I want to connect with people, I want to help others.”

He stares straight ahead and lowers himself back into his wheelchair. He’s sorry but he needs to run, he says. Life is busy. He’s getting married next fall in Milwaukee. He’s also an ambassador for a Golden-based coffee-shop. Tonight they’re organizing gift bags to deliver to hospitalized children. “That’s the thing about second chances,” he laughs. “You realize just how much you want to do with your life.”