Charismatic, conversationalist, and word lover
Charming, silly, witty, and handsome in equal parts, Brandon was a natural “people person” with talent in getting out of even the stickiest situations. A lover of words and language, he worked puns, satire, and dark humor into a charismatic, enrapturing personality. Arizona sports teams, fantasy football, video games, and political interest demonstrated his competitive spirit. He loved trying new eateries, watching and interpreting movies, and time by the shore. Brazen and daring even as a toddler, he quickly embraced his gregariousness, often helping to set up his mother Lisa’s biology classroom before stepping up to teach whatever he knew to anyone who’d listen. His parents, best friends Briana, Nic, and Chelsea plus his former partner Cait, all knew him as a grammar-correcting, animal-loving, intelligent soul with charm and looks to spare.
Brandon was a welcomed, valued, and cherished piece of his close-knit community. He frequented polling places with his mother for all elections. As a “baby whisperer,” he formed magnetic bonds instantly with any baby in his eyeline. He loved family beach trips to Mexico and Costa Rica, trips to Arizona’s Big Surf Waterpark, fishing with his dad Michael, and Thanksgiving holiday weekends with cousins and friends. He was also a natural poet, and his piece “Owning the Field” displayed his prowess with written words. The linguist within him also adored reading and initiating conversations everywhere he went, despite his impatience when his mother did the same. As Lisa and Michael’s only child, Brandon shared their passions and drove them mad with his antics. However, he was too charming and lovable to stay frustrated at for long.
Despite the sense of abandonment that came from expulsion from high school, Brandon stayed ambitious for the future. He saw a life filled with career advancement, alongside Cait and their fur babies Jellyfish, Misty Nights, and Tiki, and perhaps children to round out their family. Substance use caused turmoil, distrust, and fear in those who loved him, and he struggled to maintain the façade of normalcy while the disorder persisted. Chaos and hopelessness saddled his family and friends as secrecy, theft, and outbursts eroded relationships and sidelined progress. Brandon experienced every intervention tactic: counseling, treatment, education, legal intervention, all while his support system hoped for brighter outcomes. Instead, Brandon succumbed to his disorder after ten years of misuse.
Lisa and Michael’s loss is indescribable. Lisa cannot help but blame herself, as every attempt was made and hope was firmly in place, yet that hope was so often dashed despite her best efforts. The loss of identity, of purpose, has her asking who and what she is now. The pain is embedded too deep for supporting words to permeate, causing the care to feel like inauthentic platitudes. Her inner and outer light is forever dimmed.
Brandon believed in “The Circle of Life,” in contributing to others’ lives once ours ends. To honor her son’s legacy and his desire to see that circle endure, Lisa donated Brandon’s body to the Texas State Forensic Anthropology Center to further forensic and scientific knowledge as a young specimen. She no longer believes substance use disorder is something to “solve and understand” through willpower alone. Instead, she is working to find a scientist’s and advocate’s voice about this complex, sprawling, pervasive issue, to save others from the disorder that robbed this world of the charismatic, intelligent son she so loved.
Brandon’s mother, Lisa Lasch, provided the information for this narrative.
September 10, 1994-March 20, 2022-Age 27
Portrait Artist: Jeremy Hebbel
Narrative Writer: Jill Denton
