Madeline DiMezza is the goalie on the girls lacrosse team at St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel. Her job is to stop shots hurled at the goal at speeds up to 40 mph, or more. But her greatest save came off the field – last September, when her mom suffered a stroke.

Madeline, 16, made the 911 call that brought paramedics to their home in Millstone so a potentially life-saving tPA shot (tissue plasminogen activator) could be administered to her mom, Teresa DiMezza, 45.

Teresa DiMezza was set to begin her 14th season as St. John Vianney’s varsity girls lacrosse coach – and looking forward to coaching Madeline this season – but instead is sitting out the spring season, though she hasn’t totally stepped away from the team. She’s operating the scoreboard for home games and taking notes on the action.

With Mother’s Day approaching, Teresa DiMezza just returned to her job as a guidance counselor at Monmouth Regional High School and the DiMezza family is counting its blessings after what was a frantic night.

“The stroke hit my right side of my brain, so the left side of my body was affected. I couldn’t walk, talk or move when it happened,” Teresa DiMezza said. “My daughter is the one that saved my life. She’s the one that found me in the bathroom upstairs.”

Madeline makes a life-saving move

On Sep. 25, 2018, Madeline was home with her mom while her father, Steve, was still at work as the principal of St. John Vianney, and her brother, Coleton, 18, a senior at the school, wasn’t home yet.

Madeline was about to take a shower and her phone rang. She thought about not answering.

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“I don’t know what came over me. Usually, when I’m about to go in the shower I don’t answer the phone. And I wasn’t going to answer his call, I had one step in (the shower) but then something told me to answer,” Madeline said. “And when he told me what was happening, I felt like I made the right decision. If I didn’t answer the phone call, I would have never checked on my mom. I would have just gone to bed and she would have probably died.''

Diagnosis no one saw coming

Teresa DiMezza is a former collegiate athlete who played field hockey and lacrosse at what was called Trenton State (now known as the College of New Jersey). She said she had a clean bill of health until the day she had the stroke, which came just two days after her 45th birthday.

“The doctors couldn’t tell me why I had the stroke at the time it happened,” Teresa DiMezza said. “Eventually after some follow up tests, a tiny hole was discovered in my heart and they performed a surgery called the PFO procedure.”

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The surgery kept DiMezza out of work for months.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the definition of PFO is "a hole in the heart that didn't close the way it should after birth. During fetal development, a small flap-like opening — the foramen ovale — is normally present in the wall between the right and left upper chambers of the heart (atria).”

Road to recovery has been long

The stroke, the subsequent hospital stays and the corresponding surgery at the University of Pennsylvania on Nov. 19, 2018, kept Teresa DiMezza out of work on medical leave for eight months. She returned to her job at Monmouth Regional on April 29.

DiMezza was in the ICU for eight days. She was transferred to the cardiac care unit for eight more days. She was in a rehabilitation center for two and half weeks. And after that, months of recovery at home followed.

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“I felt no pain. I just collapsed,” DiMezza said, recalling details of that day. “I was on the phone with my husband when it happened.”

After returning home from the rehab center, DiMezza had to do physical therapy three hours a day, three days a week, and was not allowed to drive a car for months. Doctors told her recovery time for a stroke can take up to a year.

Madeline continues to play lacrosse, her mother watches for now

In a recent home game, St. John Vianney hosted Neptune on the school’s turf football field. Before the game, DiMezza greeted current head coach Samantha Arlotta and assistant coach Nicole Ambrosio before taking the walk across the field and up the steps of the home side stands to the pressbox at St. John Vianney High School.

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Teresa DiMezza, who started program in 1998, is content for now with operating the scoreboard for home matches.

“One of my goals during my recovery was to be back on the sideline coaching next season," Teresa DiMezza said. "Lacrosse is a part of my life."

And something that DiMezza will hold onto for a very long time.

Contact Sherlon:

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Sherlon Christie has been writing about sports in New Jersey and beyond since 2004. He's covered a variety of sports at all levels but his specialties are boys basketball, boys and girls lacrosse and girls soccer.

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