PHILADELPHIA – Anthony Lotti knows that answering a phone call in the library during the middle of finals preparation is all but unanimously frowned upon by his fellow University of Pennsylvania students. However, there's an exception to be made when that call is of the life-changing variety.
 
On this occasion, the call was from Be The Match – the largest and most diverse bone marrow donor registry in the world – and they bore news that Anthony had been matched as a donor for a patient in need of a transplant.
 
Three months later, Anthony is set to donate bone marrow on July 24 at Hackensack (N.J.) Medical Center. The recipient? A 37-year-old mother with leukemia.
 
"It hits you like a pile of bricks," said the junior defensive back about the call he received from Be The Match. "You kind of forget you're even in the registry and then you get the nod. You're the guy, it's your turn to step up."
 
Lotti said it was a "no-brainer" to agree to donate after receiving the call, but first he had to inform his parents – who didn't even know he had joined the registry in January of 2018 during the football team's annual drive.
 
"At first, they were blown away by the overall magnitude of the situation" said Lotti. "Any parent will have some hesitation about their child undergoing a major surgical procedure, but once that momentary concern for me subsided they were focused what this means to the family I am donating to, and what a blessing it is for our family to have the opportunity to have such an impact on someone else."
 
Lotti is the fifth Penn Football player to be matched as a donor since the Quakers began partnering with Be The Match 12 years ago. That group includes senior Sam Philippi who donated at the conclusion of the 2016 season. While Philippi's procedure was different than the three-hour surgery Lotti will undergo, having a teammate who has been in his shoes has helped Lotti prepare.
 
"I obviously had some questions, and having Sam as a resource was huge," said Lotti. "He's been through the whole process and returned to the field. He's been great in helping me understand the magnitude of this and how special it is to be a part of this experience."
 
Lotti, who is spending his summer interning with Merrill Lynch in his hometown of Freehold, N.J., will take a few days off from work following the procedure before finishing his summer and returning to campus for the start of the football team's preseason on August 21. Overall, Lotti will need a month to get back into football shape – time easily granted by his coaches.
 
"Coach Priore always talks about the 'Penn Football Family' and how if we put our family first then the rest falls into place," Lotti said. "Throughout his whole tenure at Penn, he has practiced that with Vhito DeCapria and his family and, in a way, I have a chance to add to our family. I will be impacting a family we've never met, but that's the type of selflessness that Coach Priore and Coach (Bob) Benson are looking for from our team."
 
While doing everything in his power to stay in the moment and focused on the task at hand on Wednesday, Lotti has allowed his mind to look forward at how this bone marrow donation will impact his life going forward.
 
"When you're 20 years old, there are things that seem super important that may not be all that important in the grand scheme of things," he said. "Before this process, I was so focused on being known as Anthony Lotti the great football player and student. Those goals are still there, but being known as Anthony Lotti the good person now ranks number one."
 
As for the 2019 football season, Lotti will tackle that once cleared to resume football activities in August. In the meantime, he is hoping his experience this summer can serve as a good launch point for the Quakers.
 
"Football is a selfless game," he said. "It takes 11 guys at any given point to make a play work, you can't let individual motives and agendas get in the way. If everyone is operating in a selfless manner this season, there's a good chance the team will succeed. The same is true with Be The Match. Whatever selfishness I may have felt after receiving the call pales in comparison to the impact being selfless and making a sacrifice has."
 
About the NMDP
The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and cord-blood transplants as a single point of access for a long-standing collaborative network of national and international leading medical facilities in marrow and cord blood transplantation. The NMDP connects patients, doctors, donors and researchers to the resources they need to help more people live longer and healthier lives. For more information call 1(800) MARROW-2 or visit www.marrow.org.
 
About Penn and "Be The Match"
For each of the past 12 years, the University of Pennsylvania football team has participated in "Be The Match" drives with the NMDP. The initiative was started by former Villanova Head Football Coach Andy Talley, who has dedicated more than 18 years to raising awareness about the need for marrow donors and increasing the likelihood that all patients receive the life-saving transplant they need. In addition to Penn, more than 100 college football programs participated in the program this year.