‘When I’m on the mic, it’s just me being myself. I just talk and go with the flow.’

North Bellmore

“It started when I was 3, 4 years old. I used to go around my house interviewing my family, just asking random questions. But when I was 5, I went to the Long Island Children’s Museum. It has a little News 12 booth [a play studio with a green screen] that used to show Islanders and Knicks clips. I would just commentate over them, and that’s really what inspired me to do play-by-play. I was also inspired by the Islanders broadcasting team of Butch Goring and Howie Rose, then Brendan Burke, and I also grew up hearing Gary [Cohen], Keith [Hernandez] and Ron [Darling] calling Mets [TV] games. They all inspired me, and when I heard that people get paid to commentate sports, that was just awesome to hear I could one day get to do that as a job.

Bottom of the ninth, calling a walk-off home run, that would be awesome. And I’m going to try and reach that goal.

“Almost every night at home, I turn on clips of home runs, no-hitters, overtime goals, Stanley Cup finals, and I commentate over them. I also started going to [broadcast journalism] camp at Hofstra and started doing other sports, including live games. And even though I didn’t go live on the air with them, I got to go in the booth with Butch and Brendan. That meant so much because I grew up rooting for the Mets and Islanders.

“In August, I got to go on [the live broadcast] with Gary, Keith and Ron [after winning the 2022 SNY Kidcaster Contest] during a Mets-Rockies game, and when it came to kids in school, everybody watched. I even got Yankees fans to watch. I have friends who were in Cooperstown [New York] for a baseball tournament at the time, and they watched it there in a restaurant. They told people there, ‘Oh, we know him!’

“I’m in seventh grade now, and currently doing the morning announcements for my school. The high school has great broadcasting classes, and I’m looking forward to that. You have to admit, school can be boring sometimes, but these things make it exciting for me to go every day. When I’m on the mic, it’s just me being myself. I just talk and go with the flow. I have also played baseball, but would I rather be at bat with the bases loaded or calling a game with the bases loaded? I think that’s a no-brainer. Bottom of the ninth, calling a walk-off home run, that would be awesome. And I’m going to try and reach that goal.”

Interviewed by Ian J. Stark

‘Joking about it, laughing and keeping up my daily routines instead of sulking at home, that’s what kept me going.’

Elmont

“It was a regular night. I went to sleep, woke up, and when I was doing my morning activities, I noticed that my eyes were dry, and I couldn’t really move my face. I looked in the mirror, and lo and behold, I couldn’t blink, and my face looked droopy. I called my parents because they are the first people I run to when I have a problem, plus my mom’s a nurse. My parents urged me to go to the urgent care to rule out the possibility of a stroke. I tried my best to stay positive and not think about the worst. I took myself to urgent care, and that’s where the doctor told me I had Bell’s palsy. Bell’s palsy is a viral infection that attacks your facial nerve. There’s no real known cause for it yet. It’s something they’re still studying.

“I had several appointments lined up for neurology, a CAT scan, EMGs, a whole bunch of stuff. I mostly tried to stay calm because I know if I freak out, then the rest of my nervous system is going to freak out. I just wanted to know what was happening more than anything. But then once it was explained to me, that brought me peace. I was just worried about the outcome of how long it would last.

“The doctor gave me medication. The pills were huge, and the dosage varied between the two medications, but there were a lot of pills to take a day. I also had to do physical therapy. I had two therapists: one for regular physical therapy and one for occupational physical therapy. It was a positive experience, and my friends were super supportive. I feel like I had a lot of people around me that explained things to me, so I understood what was happening. I feel like if I didn’t know what was happening, then I would have been confused.

“As of right now, my therapist and I consider myself completely healed, thankfully. I’m typically a person that likes to smile throughout my day, so not being able to during the process was weird. I just cracked jokes about myself, and it helped me feel less weird about it. That’s how I really found my joy. Joking about it, laughing, still going out with my friends and keeping up my daily routines instead of sulking at home, that’s what kept me going.”

I remember what my professor told us: “We’re a criminal justice school, so why wouldn’t we focus on a topic that affects the criminal justice system?

“I recently graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. During my last fall and spring semester, I had the amazing opportunity to work on a project with some brilliant minds — my professors and co-authors — on a play. My co-authors and I wanted to write a play about how society views rape and show how people in our own lives respond to sexual violence. We wrote the play in December 2021 and were chosen by professors to have it published for the “Seeing Rape” productions, something the school does every year. We were working on it until April 2022, a five-month project where we were making re-edits and revisions to make sure that the message was perceived well and properly.

“For our play, ‘Uncertainty,’ we chose a sister and a friend because those are typically the first people that we go to in our lives — family, friends or the people that surround us. We chose two different views, and it’s up to the audience members to depict what side they want to be on. The main character, Nevaeh, is torn between two people’s opinions that she values in her life. In the end, she ends up speaking about how she just wanted to be listened to.

We wanted to focus on what the survivors’ rights are, what they want and how they should be able to proceed. Every situation is not the same, and each one deserves its own remedy or solution. I was really excited about this opportunity because some people dismiss the topic of sexual assault and rape because it’s taboo. Even when I mentioned the idea of doing this play to some of my friends or even seeing it, they were taken aback about it and questioned why I would participate. I remember what my professor told us: ‘We’re a criminal justice school, so why wouldn’t we focus on a topic that affects the criminal justice system?’

“Getting the chance to see the play performed was amazing because we got to see our work brought to life. It was mesmerizing because we did it as a team, and I was happy and proud of our outcome. We were able to work with the actors, see how they interpreted it and just successfully collaborate to get our message out. You can watch it on YouTube under ‘Seeing Rape 2022’ published under John Jay’s account.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘You need to have a sense of humor and you need to set goals. I’m plugging along.’

Kings Park

“I was hiking in Hither Hills in Montauk in 2011; it’s wonderful and I highly recommend it. They call it the poor man’s Hamptons, and you can camp there for next to nothing. That day, I was bit on my arm by a brown recluse spider, and later I became partially paralyzed from the chest down. I was diagnosed with idiopathic acute transverse myelitis. My diagnosis is idiopathic, meaning they’re not exactly sure how I got it, although it did happen after the spider bite.

“I’m a fighter. I need so much baclofen, a muscle relaxant that I have a pump installed next to my appendix. I have a brace on one leg. I still have problems breathing. Transverse myelitis is akin to MS [multiple sclerosis] in that you become paralyzed; you’re not in control of your body. I didn’t become paralyzed right after the spider bite; it took a period of time. I got weaker and I was walking with leg braces, and then I thought, what’s the point?

I worked with my legislator and made June 6th Suffolk County Transverse Myelitis Awareness Day.

“Now I ambulate with the wheelchair. My mind is still there, except some people would debate that. I like to think I have a sense of humor because life is too short. Becoming paralyzed was devastating; it changed my life for the worse. I lost my job and I had to move. I bounced around from four different nursing homes, and I created havoc in all of them. Nursing homes weren’t used to something like this. It wasn’t like I had a stroke; my diagnosis just prevented me from walking. I try to get active in all the events at my nursing home.

“Before this event, I was completely healthy. One of my goals this year is to go kayaking, which I can do with my upper body. I worked with my legislator and made June 6th Suffolk County Transverse Myelitis Awareness Day. So that’s my claim to fame, and I’m proud of that. I wanted to do a walk, run and roll to raise money for transverse myelitis and other neurological conditions, but I couldn’t do it on my own. Everything happens for a reason. Like I said, you need to have a sense of humor and you need to set goals. I’m plugging along. It’s been a long time.”

Interviewed by Hannah Fusaro

‘Every day before I left the house, no matter where I had to go, I always gave my dad a kiss goodbye and told him I loved him.’

Bethpage

“My dad calls me in from the living room and says, ‘You need to see this.’ He points to the TV screen of a singer who just got the Golden Buzzer and says, ‘See this kid? You’re gonna marry this kid.’ That ‘kid’ and I are now engaged.

“In 2017, a year after my dad showed me that episode of ‘America’s Got Talent,’ I went to SantaCon with a friend. I wasn’t going to go, but my friend convinced me and I’m so thankful she did. We bumped into that same singer, and he happened to know my friend. She introduced me to Sal, and the first thing I told him was that my dad said I was going to marry him. He made a joke that he should probably take me to dinner first.

“So, we made plans to get dinner on Tuesday. I went home and immediately told my dad who I ran into. He honestly wasn’t even that surprised. He thought it was meant to be. He was giving himself all the credit, of course.

“The day before the date, I told my dad how nervous I was. He told me to just be myself, and if it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out. The next morning, I woke up and went to work like any typical Tuesday.

“Every day before I left the house, no matter where I had to go, I always gave my dad a kiss goodbye and told him I loved him. That was a big thing in our family. You could never go to bed or hang up the phone without saying, ‘I love you,’ because you never knew what tomorrow was going to be like. I really learned this lesson.

‘I don’t know if he knew something, but he turned to me and said, “Maybe it’s better that I’m just watching you walk down the aisle.”’

“I told my dad goodbye, and that I loved him, like usual, and he asked me, ‘What time is this character coming over tonight to pick you up? I want to touch up my hair before I meet him.’ I was so excited for the date, and I even asked my boss to leave early to get ready.

“I got home, and it was about 3:30, and something just felt weird when I walked in the door. I had two German shepherds at the time, and usually they were always at the door when I came home. But on that day, they weren’t. We lived with my mom, aunt and cousins, and so my mom was upstairs with my aunt.

“I went downstairs and walked past my dad’s room. I saw him sleeping on the bed and the dogs were with him. I didn’t want to wake him up until my date arrived, so I went into my room to get ready.

“As I was in my room, I heard a blood-curdling scream from my mom that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. To this today, if I’m in a different room than somebody else, I still get that anxious feeling. My dad passed in his sleep. He was super afraid of death. He was overweight and had an enlarged heart.

“He drove me to work and back every day for two years. Just a week before he passed, we were in the car, and I noticed he was very out of breath. I said to him, ‘Daddy, I want you to walk me down the aisle. I don’t want you to be in a wheelchair.’

“I don’t know if he knew something, but he turned to me and said, ‘Maybe it’s better that I’m just watching you walk down the aisle.’ I went to work and started crying because it hurt. My dad and I were really close – I’m an only child.

“Before he passed, he was hallucinating in his sleep, which we now know is a big part of heart failure. At the time, we didn’t realize it because he always talked in his sleep. We used to take videos because it was funny, so we had no idea that this was any different than his usual sleep. The hallucinations started happening the week before he passed.”

‘He took every emotion, whether it was anger or sadness or happiness, and he stayed with me. And four years later, he proposed on Christmas.’

“When my dad passed, I was trying to get into the room. I was a medical assistant at the time and had a CPR certification. My aunt pushed me to the side and that’s when I knew he was gone.

“My friend was on her way to do my makeup, and I called her screaming to call the cops. I collapsed in the street. It’s a day I really will never ever, ever forget. “My friend called Sal and explained what happened. He didn’t know me at all. We had just met at a random bar, but he sent food to my family’s house that night. He even drove all the way to Lemon Ice King of Corona in Queens to get me a big tub because he knew how much it meant to me.

“My dad was from Corona, Queens, and he was very proud of being from there. He used to drive there every Saturday to bring back tubs of ice for my family. We buried my father two nights before Christmas, and on Christmas Eve, Sal reached out to me. He ended up going to the same midnight Mass as my family. He sat with us and just held my hand. He told me that when he was praying, he told my dad that he promised he’ll take care of me. He wanted to help me through this time.

“He was living in Florida at the time and asked me to spend time with him there. I took a leave from work and for two months, I lived with him. It was rough. My emotions were all over the place, but he stood right there.

“He took every emotion, whether it was anger or sadness or happiness, and he stayed with me. And four years later, he proposed on Christmas.

“I’m a big believer in signs, and my dad gives me signs all the time that he’s with me. That’s what gets me through every day. I’m currently planning a wedding, and to think he’s not going to be there breaks my heart, but at the same time, I do know he is watching me and with me more than ever.”

‘I feel a safeness with Sal. He has that same love that my dad always had for me.’

“My dad was a very interesting person. He actually won the lottery years ago. He would always play these certain numbers, and one day, he won. He didn’t even check the ticket until he heard there was a winner in Corona. His life changed at that point.

“He was a big believer in the power of your subconscious mind, so it doesn’t surprise me that he pointed out Sal and said I would marry him. He was spiritual with the mind and believed we have the ability to manifest what we want. He had books on the subconscious mind, and there was one book that was very important to him.

“Every page had notes. One page in particular had something highlighted. It showed how to make the perfect family, and he put a check mark next to it with my photo.

“My dad was a very powerful presence. If he walked into a room, everybody knew him. Tracksuits were my dad’s thing. We buried him in a tracksuit with a cigar in his hand. He was very Italian and very loud. He had slicked back hair and if even a piece was messed up, he had to go home and touch up his hair.

“He was a heavy guy and would always say that God made him heavy because if he was skinny, then everyone’s wives would leave them and marry him. He was very confident.

“We have the same face. He would call me Joey Jr., like his clone. Sal is very similar to my dad, and maybe that’s why I chose him. My dad probably didn’t remember this, but he and Sal met at a cigar lounge. Sal told me that he saw my dad in a tracksuit and glasses and he didn’t know he was my dad at the time, but it’s a comforting feeling knowing they actually did meet.

“They both love cars, both proud Italians, and their personality in general, like their charisma, is the same. My dad must have chosen Sal because even their annoying qualities are the same. I guess he was letting me know that I couldn’t fully escape him.

“If my dad was here, I know him and Sal would be inseparable. I really do. They just have so much in common. I feel a safeness with Sal. He has that same love that my dad always had for me. My dad always treated me like I was the greatest gift on Earth, and Sal does a pretty good job at keeping that up. I guess my dad was right all along.”

Interviewed by Melanie Gulbas