About Rob Brizzi
I was born Claudio Balderas in Mexico City. I came to the United States with my mother in 1982. In 1986, a man named Lou Brizzi adopted me and raised me in Ramsey, New Jersey. He didn’t just give me a home — he gave me a name, a family, and an example of what it means to show up for the people you love.
I was a wrestler in high school. Three-time District champion. Won the county championship at 17. The mat taught me things that mattered later — how to get back up, how to keep fighting when your body says quit, how to be present in a moment that wants to break you.
After college at Miami University, I looked like I had it together. I didn’t. Addiction had been running my life for years. I went through court-ordered rehab and checked the boxes without surrendering. I kept going back out. My family watched me disappear.
On January 8, 2009, I had my last drink. My brother Chris gave me an ultimatum. I went to a place called Bridgeway Center in the Florida Panhandle for 90 days. That’s where it started for real. I’ve been sober ever since — over 17 years.
Redemption came in a career in healthcare — home health, pharmaceutical sales — eventually leading me to a calling in hospice. I married my wife Hope — a pharmacist, the most grounded person I know. We live in Raleigh, North Carolina with two dogs named Nola and Remy. I became a Dave Ramsey Master Financial Coach. Recovery rebuilt my life from the ground up.
Today I’m a Hospice Liaison at Amedisys covering the Chapel Hill, Carrboro, South Durham, and Hillsborough areas. I walk into facilities and homes and sit with families during the hardest conversations of their lives. I help them understand that hospice isn’t giving up. It’s the most active form of love available.
My father Lou died on Christmas Day, 2025. I was there. I knew how to be there because of the work I do every day — and because he taught me what presence looks like long before I had the word for it.
Fifteen days later, on January 9, 2026 — the 17th anniversary of my sobriety — a cardinal landed on the branch outside my window. I won a championship at 17. I saw the bird at 17 years sober. Some things aren’t coincidences. They’re promises.
The Cardinal’s Promise is the book I’m writing about all of it. The adoption, the addiction, the recovery, the loss, and the work that holds it all together. It’s for anyone who has ever been afraid to walk into a room where someone is dying — and for every person who did it anyway.
Credentials
Hospice Liaison, Amedisys/Optum • Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) • Dave Ramsey Master Financial Coach • BS Marketing, Miami University (Richard T. Farmer School of Business) • 17+ Years in Recovery
Contact: brizzi78@icloud.com
The Cardinal’s Promise 