By:Anne Marie Allocca
Teammate Robbie Salem knew something was wrong with Ellinport right away. He grabbed the fence and he looked pretty bad, Salem said. His mom screamed for help and I just ran over and got Coach [Tom] Schiavo. I wasn-t thinking about anything but doing what I could to help.
Schiavo, the phys. ed. teacher at North and Ellinport-s coach, saw the 14-year-old holding onto the fence and twitching. The teen showed the symptoms of a seizure, but Schiavo was afraid it might be something worse. The coach explained what happened next:
Scott Stueber, a phys. ed. teacher at South, ran in and got the AED, the defibrillator. He hooked [Alex] up while I ripped his shirt off. I was just kind of holding Alex and making sure he didn-t hurt himself, because that-s what sometimes happens with seizures. We hooked Alex up to the machine and the machine tells you what to do. It speaks, too, and it said do not administer shock. Then Alex stopped breathing, so I had to administer rescue breathing.
Schiavo began giving Ellinport mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but then Ellinport clamped his teeth shut. Thankfully, Schiavo heard a breath come from Ellinport as his chest began to rise. Schiavo and Stueber kept the defibrillator on the young man until he began breathing on his own.
Schiavo, who received his emergency training in 10th grade, while attending Valley Stream Central High School, praised Stueber for his help. He was right there, talking and helping to calm Alex-s mom down, and he kept the scene in order, Schiavo said. My attention was 100 percent on Alex. Scott Stueber is just a tremendous guy.
Schiavo called the afternoon-s events a real Valley Stream thing. Scott and I worked together at South. Michelle Marcus, who teaches phys. ed. at South, was my teacher in Central High School who taught me first aid. Otto Mariciello, whom I worked with at Central, now teaches at Syosset, but he did the AED training for us all here last year, so it-s a real Valley Stream connection.
Once the ambulance arrived, which Ellinport-s mother and others said took 25 minutes to a half hour, the teen was transported to Valley Stream-s Franklin Hospital Medical Center, where doctors conducted tests. They couldn-t find anything wrong with me, Ellinport said. They said that 10 percent of the population has a seizure once in their life and then never again. Hopefully that-s it.
Ellinport missed two days of school, but now is back in the swing of things, both on and off the field.
The coach and his player needed no words as they posed for a Herald photo. I thanked him profusely, said Ellinport. When I woke up, he was the first person I saw there he, my mom, my grandpa and grandma.
I-m just glad that God put me in the right place at the right time, said Schiavo. This is a very special young man he-s going to have an impact on the world someday. I-m serious. He-s a special person now, but he-s going to affect millions of people someday. I-m sure of that. I see good things in his future.
Grateful mother Tami Ellinport added, The coach is my hero. My son is my life, and the coach, in my eyes, saved my son-s life, and I love him for it.
