Before Jaime Grillo puts on her glove, the Syracuse softball catcher stops and looks.

She sees the scar on her left wrist and notices the broken glass and car material stuck in her hand. After her car accident three years ago, Grillo underwent four surgeries to handle her six severed tendons. But doctors couldn’t take the debris out because it would rip off her skin.

Grillo stares at those fragments, reminding her of what she missed. Then a sophomore, Grillo not only sat out her entire season following the accident, she also missed the team’s first Big East tournament.

Now a fifth-year senior in 2005, Grillo stars as one of the Orange’s premier players. Grillo’s first appearance in the Big East tournament will be May 12 in South Bend, Ind. The Orange will face either Seton Hall or Notre Dame in the first round.

‘(In 2002), I was at home watching the games on the Internet,’ Grillo said. ‘That was probably one of the worst things that I ever had to do. With missing that opportunity before, I’m so excited now.’

It happened all in a flash. During Winter Break, Grillo vacationed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., visiting her grandmother and working out for the upcoming season. She felt her best, but soon she’d be at her worst.

Heading toward Syracuse after the Winter Break on Jan. 12, 2002, Grillo drove north on Interstate 81 from her home in Brentwood. Somewhere around Hartford, Pa., a car cut in front of Grillo and she slammed on the brakes.

The slick road almost proved fatal that day. The sudden braking caused her 1993 Infiniti G20 to roll down the hill violently. The car landed on all four wheels on I-81 South with Grillo facing oncoming traffic. A minivan approaching Grillo struck her car.

All the windows, except the windshield, shattered and the passenger seats were obliterated. Luckily, the accident inflicted the least harm to the driver’s seat and Grillo’s luggage and softball equipment remained intact. Most of Grillo’s possessions were preserved, it was the car itself that was destroyed.

‘I was a mess,’ Grillo said. ‘I was thinking, ‘Will I ever play again? Better yet, is my hand going to fall off’? It was physically being held on by the bone.’

Coincidentally, a nurse and Jim Rutan, of Orefield, Pa, were driving behind the minivan. In two separate cars, the nurse and Rutan swerved to the side of the road after they saw Grillo’s car and the minivan collide. Once the two pulled over, they assisted Grillo while Rutan’s wife directed traffic.

After ripping the door off, the nurse splinted Grillo’s left arm with tape and a couple of Grillo’s empty CD cases. Meanwhile, Rutan held Grillo’s hand up and spoke to her about her family and softball to keep her spirits up.

Although Grillo has never spoken to Rutan after the accident, they share Christmas cards each year with Jaime’s aunt, Gina Feola. Grillo calls Rutan her ‘guardian angel.’ Feola, who never met Rutan, deems him ‘her hero.’

‘That’s obviously very flattering and very nice,’ Rutan said. ‘People do this every single day and help out other people. We were just thankful we were in the right place at the right time to help Jaime out. There are firefighters and policeman who do this day in and day out to help people.’

Rutan remembers Grillo’s strong character and courage through the accident, though the event disillusioned her. On the trip, Grillo brought her stuffed bear, the one she’s kept for 10 years, to take back to her South Campus apartment. Due to the accident, the bear lost its leg and head.

Grillo envisioned the accident being much worse than it was, not that it didn’t cause enough damage. She imagined all her belongings flying out of the car. When Rutan asked Grillo if there were any passengers in the vehicle, she cried and pointed to the shredded bear, thinking her beloved stuffed animal was actually a human being.

After the nurse splinted Grillo’s left arm, an ambulance took her to the Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pa. Meanwhile, her parents had no idea what happened to their daughter. With all the events unfolding, doctors didn’t have time to alert them immediately.

About 45 minutes after the accident, Pat and Linda Grillo received the bad news, but doctors didn’t have time to go into specifics. All they could tell them was to travel to Scranton as soon as possible.

‘The thoughts were horrible,’ Pat Grillo said. ‘We couldn’t talk to her. We knew it was severe but we had no idea if she was even alive.’

The Grillo’s drive from Long Island to Scranton was filled with phone calls trying to talk to Jaime. Tons of emotion, confusion and anxieties propelled them to arrive in Pennsylvania within reason, as fast as the engine would let them.

The accident occurred on Jan. 11, 2002, a Saturday, and Feola arrived on Monday. During that time, doctors repaired Grillo’s severed tendons and took a skin graph from her abdomen and placed it on the holes on her forearm. By the time Feola saw her niece, the softball team already arrived to provide encouragement.

‘She didn’t think we’d make it, but we decided to take the trip anyway,’ said Tanya Rose, the Orange’s senior left fielder. ‘A huge snowstorm hit but we wanted to show her we cared about her and that everything was going to be alright.’

Already missing the first week of the second semester, the question remained whether Grillo would return to Syracuse. She’d have trouble adjusting to the injury, but doctors feared Grillo staying at home would be counterproductive. Lounging around may have slowed the rehabilitation process.

Linda Grillo said initially she held reservations, but then she realized going back to Jaime’s normal routine would be beneficial.

‘I wanted to bring her home,’ Linda Grillo said. ‘She was not able to take care of herself. We drove her back up there and dropped her off. It was the hardest thing to do.’

Upon arriving at SU, Grillo couldn’t perform everyday tasks. She had trouble drinking her favorite beverage, Snapple, because opening lids required a strong wrist. Before showering, Grillo’s former roommate and former SU field hockey player Emily Smith wrapped her arm so the water wouldn’t dampen the bandages. Then Smith would help Grillo dress, but at first her arm wouldn’t fit in her shirts. To fit her arm through the sleeves, Grillo ripped the seam to provide a wider opening.

Anytime Grillo attended classes she couldn’t lean her arm on her desk. Instead she’d roll her scarf into a ball and support it with her elbow. Grillo encountered the same struggles when she slept. Anytime she put her arm down she felt nauseous. Grillo adjusted by resting her arm on her shoulder or leaning against the wall.

She couldn’t do her laundry, either. And anytime a professor assigned a paper to Grillo, she’d handwrite it out. Ann-Marie Guglieri, Jaime’s best friend and a former forward for the field hockey team, typed them. Otherwise, Grillo would’ve had to bang on the keyboard with one hand.

Then came softball. Grillo sat out the entire season and doctors told her that her chances of returning to the softball diamond were slim. But Grillo didn’t let a diagnosis determine her fate. She labeled the date of her surgery, the ‘start of her comeback.’ And she came through on her word.

‘I can’t imagine being in that situation,’ shortstop Alexis Switenko said. ‘I can’t imagine someone telling you that you can’t play again. It takes a special person to fight that and ignore what they said and never give up.’

And Grillo was that special person. While she sat out the whole year, she still attended practices and games as long if the team played near Syracuse. Any moment she could, Grillo tossed balls to SU head coach Mary Jo Firnbach.

Grillo visited Beth Colbert from Physical Therapy Plus, about three times a week. Initially, she admitted she wanted to push herself to return as soon as possible. Colbert decided to set up a weekly timetable that would gradually alleviate her injury.

During her visits, Grillo picked up light items such as jacks, pennies and marbles and opened cans and bottles. Near the end of her therapy, Colbert and Grillo went outside in the parking lot and played catch. And after every session, Grillo had a scar tissue massage.

Her road to recovery wasn’t all peachy keen, though. Grillo needed two more surgeries the following spring and summer to remove her skin graph and scar tissue. Though she played the next season, she only competed in about half the games. Her surgery in April, in which excess scar tissue affecting her nerves would be removed, cut into the heart of the Big East schedule. She decided to medically redshirt the following year.

During this whole ordeal, Firnbach visited Grillo at the hospital and at physical therapy sessions regularly. Firnbach kept her door and phone line open anytime if Grillo needed someone to talk to. Grillo’s parents laud Firnbach for making herself available to Jaime, even when the likelihood of Jaime playing softball again seemed dreary.

‘I didn’t want to give her advice that was just off the cuff at the spur of the moment,’ Firnbach said. ‘I told her she can take it or leave it and that it’s ultimately her decision.’

Despite the roadblocks, Grillo’s decision always was to play softball. Her fourth, and final, surgery was successful. And she was cleared to play.

For the next two seasons, Grillo split the catching duties with Katie Kaempfer. In 2003, Kaempfer partially dislocated her left shoulder and tore her rotator cuff. With Kaempfer and Grillo coming off injuries, Firnbach needed both players’ contribution but not to the point where they could aggravate their injuries.

Back at home, she set up clinics with the Long Island Chargers travel team. She helped a local pitcher, Jordi Borsca, earn a scholarship at New Haven University. And Megan Bryant, the softball coach at Stony Brook University has pressed Jaime to speak to her team regarding her prevailing success in overcoming a huge injury.

But Grillo deflects praise and gives it to others. She said her ability to overcome her severed tendons reflects more of the strong support system she had than it does with her determination.

‘If I can make someone else’s life better, I make my life better,’ Grillo said. ‘Knowing what I went through, how many people helped me, and who was there for me, I would love to be part of someone else’s support staff.’

Published on May 3, 2005 at 12:00 pm