Service Today for Brian Caradonna, First King of Relay For Life Event

One of the more visible organizations in Rancho Santa Margarita is Relay For Life, which helps raise money for the American Cancer Society. A few years ago, the local event began a tradition of selecting a king and queen to represent it at various community events, the selectee being someone who is regarded as a cancer survivor.

Brian Wayne Caradonna was his city’s first king in 2008, but Caradonna turned out to be “cancer-free” for only a very short time. He died last week of a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.

He was 49.

“I was very lucky to have him as my husband,” said his wife, Michele. “He took care of us and was a man of integrity that was over the top. He was a great husband.”

Michele and Brian Caradonna met two months before graduating from Point Loma College (now Point Loma Nazarene), where Brian was a basketball player who helped the program win the first of three consecutive National Christian College Athletic Association championships in 1985. Brian went on to Pepperdine where he received a masters degree in business.

The Caradonnas celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on Dec. 27, a milestone that helped Brian hang on as long as he did, his wife said. They have lived in Rancho Santa Margarita since 1998 in the Robinson Ranch neighborhood, a neighborhood decorated this week by the that are the trademark of the .

A celebration of Caradonna's life will be held today, 4 p.m., in main sanctuary with a reception following. Those wishing to do so can join a funeral procession to the church from Robinson Ranch Road at Plano Trabuco. It is suggested that cars line up at 3:15 p.m.; the procession will leave promptly at 3:30 and go to the church through Live Oak Canyon. Funeral stickers will be available.

Caradonna died Jan. 26. He had worked at Boeing since 1988; an IT manager in its aircraft and missiles division who was highly regarded by his colleagues for his fairness and unwavering integrity, he went on long-term disability in April 2010.

Caradonna was touched by being named the first king of the community’s 24-hour Relay for Life event in 2008.

“It really made him not feel alone, talking with other people with cancer and being able to bond was huge,” said Michele, who is a nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Irvine. “Especially for him, to hear other peoples’ stories and their fight and to come together.”

The Saddleback church member and volunteer camp counselor who helped his children’s soccer and basketball teams is survived by three sons and a daughter: Zachary 18, Jordan 15, Christian 12 and Mikayla 9; parents John and Ann Caradonna of San Diego; and brothers John of San Diego, Gary of Poway, and Robert of Santee.

Caradonna was originally diagnosed in Sept. 2007, shocking he and Michele, but chemotherapy shrunk a lymph node in his arm and it was removed; however, the triple negative breast cancer returned in the spring of 2009 to his lungs. It eventually spread to his liver.

“We knew since May of ’09 that we were in trouble,” Michele Caradonna said. “The reason he did chemo all those years was to buy time, he stayed on the chemo as long as possible. He did it for the kids, for us—you have this young family that needs you.”

They crammed as much quality time as they could into their remaining years, renting a summer house, going on a couple of cruises, the children no longer complaining about having their pictures taken on Christmas morning.

“In June, he went off of all chemotherapy because it was making him so miserable,” Michele Caradonna said. “He was a very faithful Christian. God has walked us through it, the whole community—meals is just the tip of the iceberg for what everyone has done for us. He was a big Charger fan because he was from San Diego and people gave us tickets, they were over the top, and it’s all come together incredibly.”

To learn more about Brian Caradonna’s journey, read his CaringBridge site.