Paramedic and second-year medical student Alex Rodríguez, who died Friday in a motorcycle crash, was the first in his family to graduate from college, and he planned to become a trauma surgeon. He was 26.
Alejandro Daniel Rodríguez-Prieto was born in Mexico and settled in the U.S. at age 8, five years after announcing he wanted to be a doctor.
He devoted himself single-mindedly to that goal, becoming an exemplary student in primary and secondary school. He read medical-research articles online instead of watching television. As a high school senior, Rodríguez was a
As an undergraduate at Regis University, Rodríguez became as a paramedic and volunteered with local emergency medical services teams. He was the first responder on a 911 call from an elderly woman who fell as she was showering. Rodríguez was helping her when firefighters burst into the bathroom, startling Rodríguez and his patient.
“The firefighters teased him for weeks about the kind of women he picked up,” said his brother, Jesus Reyes.
“My brother always had his priorities straight,” Reyes said. “He always wanted to go to medical school and wanted to become a trauma surgeon. After becoming a surgeon, he wanted to go to and .”
In his bedroom at home, instead of music posters, Rodríguez put up photographs of his family and friends, next to a framed acceptance letter from the .
During his first year at the school of medicine, Rodríguez and his friend Luis Chavez taught basic Spanish to other students.
“We’d talk and text every day, sending messages back and forth: ‘Good morning. How are you feeling? Are you pumped up? Ready to take on the day?’ ” Chavez said. “On my birthday, I was in the medical library to study for the semester when I got a surprise call from him. It was midnight, and he said he couldn’t wait till morning; he wanted to be the first to wish me happy birthday.”
Rodríguez and his research partner, Paige Bennett, recently won a grant through to help Latino teenagers for .
“Weight was an issue for me, but not for him,” Jesus Reyes said. “In middle school, I was 190 (pounds), 5 pounds away from being obese. Alex wanted me to be as healthy as possible. I got down to 135 pounds, 5 pounds from being underweight.”
In addition to his brother, Rodríguez is survived by his parents, Jesus and Irma Reyes of Denver; and his grandfather, Manuel Reyes, of Durango, Mexico.
A funeral Mass is planned for 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Anthony Church, 3801 W. Ohio Ave., Denver.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
