'I'm miles ahead': Paralyzed St. John Vianney football player coming back to the game

MOUNT LAUREL - Aaron Van Trease took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and pushed his legs out. The 18-year-old from Manasquan was working a leg press machine Tuesday, just like he had in the weight room at St. John Vianney High School.

The circumstances are different now. On Sept. 23, 2022, Van Trease was paralyzed after suffering a fractured C6 vertebra in his neck during a Shore Conference football game. It’s been a whirlwind of a recovery journey since, one buoyed by intensive physical therapy, his Catholic faith and an outpouring of support from all over.

On this day, there was progress: After sliding out of his wheelchair and into the leg press — Aaron has full movement in his upper body — he pushed up 25 pounds at a 30-degree angle, doing a total of 50 reps in five sets. Then he finished the station with the equivalent of a touchdown, pressing 5 pounds at a 65-degee angle. These were all personal records for his six months at Project Walk New Jersey, a paralysis recovery center in Burlington County.

At the end of each rep, Van Trease’s grimace broke out into a smile.

“A year ago, I was in a hospital bed stuck there for a month and not moving,” he said. “I’m miles ahead of where I was, for sure.”

On Friday night, Van Trease will return to St. John Vianney’s home sideline for his first game since the injury. This is not just any game, either. It’s against Manasquan, his hometown school — and the opponent on that fateful day last September.

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Aaron is determined to, at some point, walk out onto that field. Along the way, he’s already setting an example for others who find themselves in his shoes — or for anyone facing an uphill climb.

“He never looks at himself as an inspiration, but he truly is,” said his father, Rich Van Trease. “He inspires me every day.”

The rallying

In the early days and weeks after the injury, gestures of support filled Aaron’s hospital room — and his phone. From his favorite pro and college football teams, there was a personalized video from Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady and a get-well note and flowers from Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. Well-wishes came from strangers in Texas, Guam and Japan. St. John Vianney painted an entire wall of its football field’s concession stand as a mural for No. 18, Aaron’s jersey number.

“I don’t think there’s a person in Manasquan that didn’t do something for our family – prayer, donations, cut my lawn, walked my dog, food constantly at my door,” Rich Van Trease said. “And from people I have never met before. We are truly blessed.”

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After Aaron arrived at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, he received a visit from former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand, a major ambassador for spinal-cord injury research since becoming paralyzed while making a tackle in a 2010 game.

“It’s not hard to be inspired by somebody like that,” Aaron said.

He also was visited by Sam Jarmer, who suffered a C-6 fracture as a teenage lifeguard in Ocean Grove in 2019. Originally paralyzed from the neck down, Sam has regained widespread movement and is working toward walking with the help of a walker.

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Sam’s mother, Jessica Jarmer, has been offering guidance to the Van Trease family since two days after Aaron’s injury.

“We have a great network. It’s a spinal-cord family,” Jessica Jarmer said. “Everybody will say they understand, but this is not something most people understand, nor should they understand.”

It was Jessica who recommended Project Walk to Aaron’s parents. She knew they would have no problem driving an hour-plus to Mount Laurel four times a week if that’s what it took.

“They are committed to his recovery and they won’t stop at anything,” she said. “I can totally relate to that.”

In May, sports broadcaster Jerry Recco — whose son was a classmate of Aaron’s at Vianney — organized a charity touch football game for the Van Trease family. Former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason headlined the event.

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Aaron, whose weight plummeted from 175 pounds to 115 at his weakest point during the recovery (he’s now in the 150s), said every single gesture gave him fuel to push through the hardest days.

“It’s insane how everybody rallied,” he said. “I cannot be more grateful for everything people have done for me.”

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The pilgrimage

Shortly after the injury, Rich Van Trease received a long letter from Joseph Leone Introna, proprietor of Joe Leone’s Italian food markets in Point Pleasant Beach, Manasquan and Sea Girt. Rich had known Joe for a while, but the letter was extraordinary. Joe asked to visit Kessler every night for 33 straight days to pray with Aaron.

And not just any prayer, but a healing prayer attributed to St. Padre Pio, an Italian friar who, according to Catholic devotion, suffered from stigmata (a bleeding of mysterious wounds in the hands and feet reminiscent of Jesus on the cross) and was known for his healing powers. Padre Pio died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002.

The Van Treases welcomed the suggestion, and were so moved by the initiative that they decided to visit Padre Pio’s tomb, Aaron included. Earlier this month, they made a weeklong pilgrimage to Italy with Introna and Rev. Joseph Hlubik, pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Bay Head. They visited the Vatican, Assisi (birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi, who is venerated for his compassion and healings) and the Padre Pio shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo.

There, Padre Pio’s body lies in a glass case as if sleeping — not decomposed. It’s viewed by devout Catholics as a miracle. Rev. Hlubik celebrated mass at the shrine, “a surreal feeling,” as Rich Van Trease put it.

“I wanted to show gratitude to Padre Pio,” Aaron said, “because my recovery is going really well — and faith has had a lot to do with it.”

Another stop in Italy was an orphanage that Introna helps fund. Aaron said interacting with the children there was a highlight of the trip. He returned home last weekend, jet lagged but invigorated.

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The rehab

Attitude is everything. That’s been an undercurrent of Aaron’s recovery.

“A day or two after this happened, and I realized how deep we were in this and how hard how hard this was going to be,” Rich Van Trease said, “he was laying in bed with tubes in him and I said, ‘This is our way out of this one: You have to stay 100% positive.’”

Not that there was much doubt. At St. John Vianney, Aaron was the teammate who would carry the bag of balls to the bus — a chore reserved for rookies — as a senior captain.

“After practice he would be throwing on the field with three or four guys until it got dark,” Rich Van Trease said. “That’s how he approaches this, every day.”

It helps that Aaron possesses a perspective that is mature beyond his years.

“I love this quote that my aunt (Lori Colaner) said to me: ‘Your life is somebody else’s dream,’” he said. “When I was in Kessler, I would have down days. Then you’d see someone who maybe isn’t as far along in their recovery, or their injury is more severe, and they’re working hard, and it really makes you think: They would want to be where you are.”

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Where is Aaron now? During Tuesday’s two-hour therapy session, he pulled himself out of a seated position and onto a wheeled walker, which he pushed across the facility for 15 minutes with the assistance of two Project Walk staffers. These are literally steps in the right direction.

“We love his tenacity,” said Leslie Clark, Project Walk’s executive director. “It’s the hardest thing that anybody can go through.”

That includes the mountain of insurance hassles, costs and logistical challenges that come with a spinal-cord injury.

“It’s daunting,” Rich Van Trease said.

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Jessica Jarmer put it this way: “It’s a big eye-opener to see how the system works, and it doesn’t always work in the favor of somebody who is struggling. The injury doesn’t happen that often, so there are not enough places to deal with it.”

Aaron is taking a gap year from school right now to focus on his recovery, but when he does get to college, he’d like to study the spinal-cord field, to better help him pay it forward. Looking around Project Walk, with a bunch of patients climbing the same hill, has lit a spark deep down.

“This place has definitely opened up my mind to wanting to help people in my situation in the future, 100%,” he said. “Being here is as much mental therapy as it is physical therapy.”

It’s not quite football, but Aaron is part of a team again, taking coaching, pushing hard, rooting on others as they do their drills. Slowly, steadily, resolutely, he’s marching down the field.

“Everyone has the same goal,” he said. “To get back up on their feet.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: SJV football player coming back to sideline after being paralyzed