Bay City News – The American Red Cross has teamed up with a popular fishing website to organize a blood drive in honor of 19-year-old Joseph Ruigomez, who was badly burned in the Sept. 9 PG&E gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno.
Sara O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said she was approached with the idea for the blood drive by members of ImHooked.com, a website for fishing enthusiasts.
Ruigomez has been a member of the group since he was 13 years old and goes by the screen name Panfish Popper, O'Brien said.
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Imhooked.com members know Ruigomez through his passion for fishing and his role as a online forum mediator on the site, and they wanted to do something to support his recovery from the severe burns he suffered in the disaster.
"It's like we've got a child," ImHooked.com member and blood drive organizer Ross BevDier said of Ruigomez, whom he has never met.
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Group members have gotten to know Ruigomez over the years through the website, he explained.
"We end up giving him advice on high school," BevDier said.
Ruigomez has been hospitalized at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco since the explosion and fire, which destroyed 37 homes and killed eight people.
"I was in the Vietnam War," BevDier said. "I know that suffering through burns is probably one of the worst things you can come away with."
Ruigomez was injured as he tried to rescue his girlfriend, 20-year-old Jessica Morales, who was trapped in his burning Crestmoor Canyon home. Morales died in the fire.
BevDier is coordinating blood donations in Ruigomez's honor with blood centers in states across the U.S. where the website's members live, including Arkansas, Idaho, Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania, and most of California, he said.
Members of Imhooked.com and the public can join the blood drive by visiting American Red Cross donation centers and reporting blood donations at Imhooked.com and entering a search for Joseph Ruigomez.
Representatives of the website will inform Ruigomez of the blood given in his honor, and the Red Cross can provide cards for donors to sign, which will be sent to Ruigomez through his family.
Donors can call (800) RED CROSS, or (800) 733-2767, or visit redcrossblood.org to schedule an appointment.
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