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 Andy D'Alessando's Miracle (Reprinted from the Ponte Vedra Recorder 3/21/03)
By Jerry Norton

Andy D’Alessandro, restrained by a special halo brace,  rests at home after shortly the accident. The halo is attached by  surgical screws into Andy’s skull and is connected to the vest by the four  vertical support bars.

D'Alessandro is on his way to a Nease High School record in the 139 pound weight class with clean and jerk of 210 and 215 pounds. He recently lifted 220 pounds and is within 10 pounds of a new school record.
Less than a year ago, Andy D'Alessandro, a young Nease high school student, faced the terrifying prospect of life as a quadriplegic - that is, if he survived. That the teenager is alive today, leading a full an active life is considered by many, a miracle, or perhaps more appropriately, a succession of miracles.

Young D'Alessandro, like many of his high school friends, could be described as an energetic teenager with a passion for football, wrestling, soccer, surfing and music; an articulate and conscientious student, comfortable in the company of his peers, his siblings, his parents and other adults.
Andy's life changed dramatically on Saturday, April 6th 2002. The day, warm and sunny with unusually rough seas, attracted a group of serious surfers to the beach at the Cabana Club, D'Alessandro among them. Andy's mom, Tina, dropped her son and a friend at the Club in the morning, offering her usual reminder to be careful then returned home.

But unlike his friends, Andy's harrowing brush with death left him with a unique perspective, especially unique for one so young.
"It was really windy, the sandbars were shifting and the waves were awesome-really fast," recalled Andy. "We had been surfing about an hour and I had changed into my spring suit because the water was warming up. I caught this one wave and it "closed out" on me. I ditched my board and fell headfirst into the water and into a sandbar. The water was so shallow that I didn't have enough time to get my hands up to protect myself. " Andy hit the sandbar with the top of his forehead and blacked out momentarily. The impact had broken the C-1 and C-2 cervical bones in his neck. "The next thing I remember is feeling this terrible pain at the top of my head and this horrible pain at the back of my head."
He managed to climb back on his surfboard and paddle to shore, lying face down on the board. At the shoreline, he crawled off the board onto the beach and rolled over on his back, still half in the water. Witnesses offered to pull the injured surfer out of the water but Andy would not allow it pleading, "Don't touch me! Don't move me! I think I broke my neck! Call 911 and my mom!" His actions may have saved his life. 
Tina, alerted to the accident by a cell phone call from Andy's friend, raced back to the Cabana Club, arriving before the emergency response team and found her son on his back at the water's edge bleeding from the nose. Her instincts as a family nurse practitioner took over and with the aid of a doctor, who was having lunch at the club, helped avoid further injury.
"Had Andy moved wrong coming out of the water, or turned his head, there would be a good chance that he would have died right there on the beach," Tina said later.
While waiting for the emergency response team, Andy admitted thinking he might be paralyzed and might never move his legs again. "That's all I was thinking about laying on the beach," he said. "Not being able to walk again. Not being able to play spring football or surf or anything."
He was taken by ambulance to Rawlings Elementary School and airlifted to Shands Hospital by helicopter. Enroute, he demonstrated that, despite the trauma, his sense of humor remained in tact. "During the ride, I was still thinking maybe I'll never move again but at least I can say 'Well I was in a helicopter' - but I didn't get to look out and watch."
At Shands, X-rays and CAT-scans showed the two cervical bones were broken. After lengthy deliberation by doctors between surgery and immobilization, Andy was fitted with a halo head brace. The halo, attached to Andy's skull by four surgical screws and supported by braces connected to a heavy plastic vest, completely restricted any head movement. Still doctors weren't certain the injury would heal properly or whether Andy had suffered additional injuries to the ligaments and muscles of his neck.
After three months in the halo, including bi-weekly visits to the hospital to check and tighten the screws in his skull, the news was positive; Andy's neck had healed properly and no further damage was evident. But months of physical therapy would be required to restore complete range of motion in his neck.

The 15 year-old sophomore returned to school and his pre-IB courses gradually, encumbered by the heavy halo, but anxious to return to a relatively normal life. He turned his difficult halo experience into something positive by completing a research project entitled "The Geometry of Prosthetics" for an honors geometry course, earning a grade of 102%.

Andy was also anxious to return to the sports scene after completing physical therapy. As a freshman prior to the accident, he had played football, wrestled and was on the weight-lifting team at Nease. He received the go-ahead from his doctors to lift weights again and worked hard to regain his lost muscle mass but recognized the risks of playing football or wrestling again. He focused instead on weight lifting. "It's just not worth it," said the teenager. Ironically, a few months earlier, Andy had to convince his mother to allow him to wrestle for Nease. Tina was reluctant because her brother, also named Andy, broke his neck as a high school wrestler and had to wear a halo brace for months.

Two weeks ago less than a year after his accident, Andy set a personal best record in the clean and jerk weightlifting event for Nease with a lift of 215 pounds. He then topped that in the next meet with a lift of 220 pounds putting him with ten pounds of the school record for his weight class. 

Coach Dave Kline has special feelings for the young weightlifter "It's just exciting to have a young man like Andy on the team," said Kline. "He's a young leader and continues to set a great example for other kids in his intensity and his work ethic. Just his heart--from where he's been until now--his attitude is tremendous considering all he's been through. He's excited about life and excited about what he can achieve."

As evidence, D'Alessandro is an active member of the high school's leadership group. He plays guitar for the group and for masses at the Ponte Vedra Presbyterian Church. He helps coach his younger brother's soccer team and is taking a Red Cross life saving course at the Y. In May, on Mother's Day, after taking cooking lessons while in the halo, he made dinner for the family complete with tira misu for dessert. This summer he's headed for Monterrey, Mexico to work as a Spanish translator on a construction project for the church.

When asked how the accident had changed him, Andy thought for a moment, then replied, "I'm extremely thankful that I can still walk around and enjoy my life. Teenagers tend to think they are unbreakable. But that's not true. I think I appreciate life more and I may be a little more cautious."

Andy D'Alessandro is alive and active today because the fracturing of the cervical bones in his neck had not immediately severed or damaged his spinal cord; because, in the initial moments after the accident he was not tossed around violently by the breaking waves; because he had the presence of mind, despite the turmoil, to do everything humanly possible to avoid moving his head and to keep others from moving him; because his mother had the foresight and the expertise to prepare him in the event of such a accident; because a doctor was on the scene almost immediately after the accident.

Certainly the entire D'Alessandro family believes Andy's remarkable recovery is a miracle and it is difficult to disagree. Coach Kline offered his own explanation.

"It's an amazing story," said Kline. It's just a tremendous blessing from God that he survived. Obviously God has bigger and better plans for Andy D'Alessandro than we understand."

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