George Amadeo spent his 18th birthday at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, recovering from a bullet wound.

On a bad day, Amadeo received a brief moment of respite in the form of a phone call.

For a moment, it allowed him to think back to when he was 15 and Ryan Fitzpatrick captured his imagination as the Jets starting quarterback. Now, he was about to speak with him for the first time.

"I'm a huge Jets fan," Amadeo told NJ Advance Media.

Amadeo, a Belford native, was enthralled by Fitzpatrick, the Harvard product who emerged and posted the most statistically productive season for a Jets quarterback in franchise history, leading them to the brink of the playoffs. Not even Joe Namath passed for more than 3,900 yards and 30 touchdowns at any point in his Hall of Fame career. Fitzpatrick did.

Amadeo was captivated by Fitzpatrick and his risk-taking tendencies and air-it-out mentality.

Fitzpatrick was like a magician. It inspired him.

Amadeo doesn't play football, but he is a gamer. He plays Madden -- the premier NFL video game -- competitively.

His Madden username: Fitzmagic13.

On Aug. 27, Amadeo was a contestant in the "Madden 19 NFL Classic" esports tournament in Jacksonville, which typically draws about 15,000 people.

That day, champion gamer David Katz, 24, of Baltimore, opened fire after being knocked out of a competition at The Landing shopping center. Katz killed two people -- Elijah Clayton and Taylor Robertson -- and injured 10 others before taking his own life.

Amadeo was "about five feet away" from the shooter when his father, also named George Amadeo, jumped on him to protect him from the gunfire. His father was not shot.

Amadeo had a bullet lodged in his ankle and doctors at the Jacksonville hospital successfully performed surgery to remove it.

He was expected to emerge from surgery "with plates and screws in his ankle," Annmarie Amadeo, his mother, told NJ Advance Media shortly after it happened.

"It was a very rough night," she also said.

By Aug. 29, Fitzpatrick -- now with the Buccaneers -- had been made aware of Amadeo's medical situation, his username and Jets fandom.

So, Fitzpatrick gave Amadeo a phone call to wish him a happy 18th birthday, and sent him his signed Buccaneers jersey, No. 14, with a message: "Happy 18th Bday George!! Get will soon and keep up that Fitzmagic."

Amadeo declined to speak for this story, but did provide messages via social media to NJ Advance Media.

Amadeo "named myself after him during his first season with the Jets and followed his career since," Amadeo wrote. "Ryan's a standup guy and I didn't expect anything like that to happen. If you're going to do a story on this please remember the victims and their families."

Fitzpatrick also declined comment -- via the Buccaneers' media relations department -- though he did acknowledge sending Amadeo the jersey and speaking with him.

While I was in the hospital, Ryan Fitzpatrick called me for my birthday. He then sent me this, out of all the names that I could have picked I’m glad I picked his. Ryan is a standup guy and this made my day. pic.twitter.com/1tYuAnGLPO — Fitzmagic13 (@fitzmagic13) September 4, 2018

Now Amadeo is back in New Jersey, recovering from a traumatic experience.

Sunday, he might watch the Buccaneers face the Eagles on television. He doesn't have much interest in either team, though he'll be rooting for at least one player.

The quarterback, No. 14.

Amadeo's username remains "Fitzmagic13", and he'll always root for Fitzpatrick.

Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.