By Jeff Lipton
Shayna, 13, an eighth-grader at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, suffered a huge gash on her left ear, a serious wound which required almost 100 stitches to close and some plastic surgery. She received the wound during the bottom of the fourth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, June 23, as she sat with her two friends and her father, Steve Gottesman, a Mets season ticket-holder for about 20 years. They were sitting in their regular seats, three rows behind the Mets dugout, near the on-deck circle.
My friend next to me started crying and then I got scared, said Shayna in a telephone interview from her Cedarhurst Avenue home on Friday, June 28. I asked the EMS personnel, Am I going to die like the girl at the hockey game.' She was referring to 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil, who was struck and killed by an errant puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets' game earlier this year.
I felt my ear and my whole head started shaking, she said. We started to yell for help.
Her dad said, We all ducked and when I got up, I saw Shayna covering her ear. I looked and saw the blood. She's lucky to be alive. He said if she was hit anywhere else in the head, she could have died. He said her ear cushioned the impact of the bat hitting her head.
Luckily, a long time friend of Steve Gottesman, Dr. Sheldon Genack, a facial plastic surgeon who lives in Lawrence and has offices in Hewlett, was sitting about 20 seats away. He rushed to the aid of Shayna and after she was taken to the first aid station at Shea, Dr. Genack rushed her to St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, where he performs his operations. He had a room and nurses prepared for Shayna's arrival.
In two hours he did reconstructive surgery in his shorts and a T-shirt, Steve Gottesman said. It was a miracle he was at the game. It was the first time ever he sat in that seat at Shea.
He realized the severity of the injury. Her ear was nearly torn off her head. You could have put two fingers through her ear.
He said his daughter, who was supposed to go to sleepaway camp at Camp Mesorah in Gilford, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 26, feels no residual effects of her injury. She's doing great, he said. She will start camp a week late and stay for eight weeks.
He called his daughter a real trooper. After the bat hit her, Burnitz' game bat was exchanged for another one of his bats which was given to her as a souvenir. As she was being wheeled out of the stadium in a wheelchair, Shayna hoisted the bat above her head in a gesture to the crowd that she was okay.
As she's being wheeled out, she says to me, Dad, give me the bat' and she hoists it over her head. It was amazing. About 45,000 people gave her a standing ovation, he said.
She had stitches and her bandages removed on Wednesday, June 26. On that same day Burnitz, who reportedly felt terrible about the incident, offered to meet with Shayna and her family to patch things up. He gave her autographed bats, four Mets hats and a Mike Piazza bobblehead doll.
He was apologetic. He was very nice and very gracious, Steve Gottesman said. But Shayna's 3-year-old sister apparently wasn't so forgiving. Upon meeting Burnitz, she said, I don't like you anymore. You hurt Shayna.
He was really embarrassed, Shayna said. My sister made him feel really bad.
The incident has made Shayna somewhat of a celebrity. When the incident was replayed on ESPN, announcer Chris Berman said he hoped the young lady was doing well. When Shayna heard that, she called Berman up and left a message on his phone telling him she was doing fine. The next day he returned her phone call and they spoke for about a half-hour about baseball.
In addition, Benjamin Brafman of Lawrence, a famous attorney, gave Shayna a hard hat signed by one of his clients, rap artist P Diddy. Shayna said she may wear the hat the next time she returns to Shea sometime in September after camp has ended.
She said the serious injury she sustained will not deter her from attending a future game, but the next time she just might be wearing the helmet. I'm going to go back. I'm not afraid. I'm not a wuss.
