{"id":73934,"date":"2025-11-29T02:54:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/73934\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T02:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:54:16","slug":"long-beach-teen-walks-out-of-hospital-after-a-diving-accident-left-him-paralyzed-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/73934\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach teen walks out of hospital after a diving accident left him paralyzed \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Apuzzo family had plenty to be thankful for this week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital in Long Beach celebrated the remarkable recovery of 15-year-old student-athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo this week, who sustained an injury that left him paralyzed after a diving accident on the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

A day before Thanksgiving, Apuzzo took his first steps out of the hospital \u2014 and spent the holiday with his family.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach teen sustained a severe spinal cord injury with burst fractures to his C5-C7 vertebrae \u2014 in the lower neck near the shoulders \u2014 and his recovery has been nothing short of extraordinary, hospital officials said.<\/p>\n

Apuzzo underwent trauma care and neurosurgical halo vest stabilization \u2013 a device used to immobilize the cervical spine for healing \u2013 followed by months of intensive inpatient rehabilitation. His determination, combined with the expertise of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s multidisciplinary care team, turned what doctors call a \u201cmiracle\u201d into a reality, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refuse to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair,\u201d Apuzzo said in a statement. \u201cAfter being paralyzed and relying on everyone for everything, I\u2019m finally getting my freedom back today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his accident, Apuzzo was a student-athlete training for water polo at the 6-8 Academy, 908 Water Polo Club and Shore Aquatics. He loves the outdoors \u2013 surfing, climbing and bodyboarding \u2013 and dreams of returning to the water and hiking the 14 great peaks of the world.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by cheering family, friends, teammates, and care team members waving colorful signs and pom-poms. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital care team held signs for 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo, who walked out of the hospital doors on Wednesday, Nov. 26, after recovering from a Fourth of July diving accident that left him paralyzed. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by cheering family, friends, teammates, and care team members waving colorful signs and pom-poms. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by cheering family, friends, teammates, and care team members waving colorful signs and pom-poms. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, his care team and family were there to support him during the milestone. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by his friends and teammates. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by his friends and teammates. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by his friends and teammates. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he reconnected with the Long Beach firefighters who helped him after his Fourth of July diving accident. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Before<\/p>\n

Before his accident, Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo was a dedicated student athlete and standout water polo player, training with 6-8 Academy, 908 Water Polo Club, and Shore Aquatics. (Photo courtesy of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

As 15-year-old student athlete and water polo standout Alessandro \u201cSandro\u201d Apuzzo walked out of Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital on Wednesday, Nov. 26, he was greeted by cheering family, friends, teammates, and care team members waving colorful signs and pom-poms. (Photo by Christina Merino, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

On his discharge day, Wednesday, Nov. 26, Apuzzo was taken to the ground floor, where he stood from his wheelchair and took his first steps toward the hospital doors. Family, friends, teammates and care team members lined the exit area with colorful signs, pom-poms and bubbles to cheer him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been super special for them to recognize his progress, his determination, and also to highlight their relationship,\u201d his mother, Jacqueline Apuzzo, said in an interview. \u201cIt shows the whole community that\u2019s been really behind his recovery; no better way to capture it and capture the amazing work that\u2019s being done here.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was one of the largest celebrations Miller Children\u2019s has ever held for a patient, officials said.<\/p>\n

Apuzzo is also a lifelong Los Angeles Rams fan, so the hospital surprised the teen with a signed jersey from quarterback Matthew Stafford. And Apuzzo reunited with the Long Beach firefighters and lifeguards who helped in his rescue on the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong Beach really helped him out,\u201d said Dr. Kimberely BeDell, director of rehabilitation at Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween his friends identifying there was a problem at the beach to the lifeguards, paramedics, emergency department, intensive care unit, and inpatient and outpatient rehab,\u201d BeDell added, \u201che really got the entire city\u2019s assistance, and it really shows today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital is dedicated to helping children and teens recover from complex injuries and conditions. With a multidisciplinary team of pediatric experts and advanced rehabilitation equipment, Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s provides individualized care focused on restoring mobility, independence and quality of life, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite happy for him and his family,\u201d BeDell said. \u201cHe\u2019s really made tremendous progress since his injury and I believe that he will continue to make progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apuzzo has gone from being fully dependent to regaining independence through intensive therapy and with support from a full-service children\u2019s hospital, underscoring the value of these hospitals at a time when funding is under threat, officials said.<\/p>\n

After the celebration, Apuzzo made it back to his room and said he was looking forward to eating mashed potatoes and gravy on Thanksgiving at home with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d he said to everyone who attended his celebration. \u201cThere are no other words I can say right now but thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Apuzzo family had plenty to be thankful for this week. That\u2019s because Miller Children\u2019s & Women\u2019s Hospital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,179,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-73934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}