Community members from Carmel Valley and Del Mar have been joining together in support of Tommy Mallon, a Santa Fe Christian School senior and Carmel Valley resident who broke
his neck during a lacrosse game last month.
On Saturday, May 23, Tommy, 18, during a game against Poway High School, broke his neck at C-1, the first vertebra where the skull and spine connect, according to his mother, Beth, and
www.tommymallon.blogspot.com, a blog updated daily by his family.
Treated at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, Tommy was initially placed in the intensive care unit, where doctors monitored the break, and assessed a vertebral artery, which, due to the pressure from the break, had restricted blood flow to his brain.
On May 25, doctors told Tommy he could begin eating soft foods. With his condition
improving, Tommy transitioned from intravenous to oral medication the following day. That same day, Tommy underwent an arterial scan that revealed that the artery, though not fully open, was allowing blood to flow freely to his brain.
A post on Tuesday, May 26, at 8:15 a.m. reads, “Tests show that Tommy’s neurological function
remains intact and there is no damage to his spinal cord. This, first and foremost, is great news
and alleviates many worries…the neurosurgeon said it looks like it will be able to heal on its own but surgery still may be needed if it doesn’t heal correctly or if the ligaments in the area are damaged. We won’t really know for two to three months.”
The end of the blog entry briefly summarizes the hope and confidence his family has in
Tommy’s ability to recover.
“This will take some time to conquer,” it reads, “but we know Tommy and he is capable of amazing
things.” Tommy, who was able to get up and walk while in the hospital, returned home on June 1.
Riki Kirchhoff, the assistant trainer at Santa Fe Christian, treated Mallon on the field at the time
of the incident.
Immediately following Tommy’s collision with an opponent, Kirchhoff, 26, raced out to Tommy; with Tommy (who was on his knees, not yet laying down) telling her that his neck didn’t hurt, she thought he had only suffered a head injury. Kirchhoff continued to assess the injury by asking Tommy questions; when he admitted there was some numbness in his head, she immediately urged him to lie down and stabilized his head.
“Anytime there’s neck pain, we always err on the side of caution,” said Kirchhoff, who added
that this was the first time she’s ever had to call an ambulance for an athlete injury.
Reflecting on the incident, Kirchhoff said it was her training, as well as help from a higher power, that led to Tommy’s recovery.
“It’s crazy to realize how these kids’ lives are in your hands,” she said. “You’re trained for it, but you hope it never happens. I think God was along the way on this one.”
Testifying to Tommy’s strength are his peers and coaches at Santa Fe Christian.
See related: Quadriplegic triumphs over tragedy to help others [2]
“He’s the toughest kid I know,” said Tommy’s best friend Matt Kenyon, an 18-year-old senior and lacrosse teammate. “He’s the kid who works the hardest and never quits.”
Kenyon was playing in the game when Tommy got hurt, and remembered his friend trying to get up and keep playing after the injury. “He’s not a kid who’s going to say, ‘I’m hurt.’ He’s the definition of toughness, in every way possible.”
About his recovery, Kenyon , who visited Tommy in the hospital five times, said, “I know he’s
going to be all right.”
Another friend of Tommy’s, Jenna Puterbaugh, spoke about Tommy’s “toughness” as well as his optimistic outlook, which has drawn the Santa Fe Christian community together.
Jenna, a 17-year-old junior, visited Tommy every day in the hospital, and said that on June 1, Tommy, despite his pain and discomfort, was already joking around with her.
“He has a great spirit about him,” she said. “He’s so loved by everyone at school.”
Jenna said that the whole school has rallied around Tommy, making videos to offer support to
him and his family and added that “everyone is praying for him.”
That support has also come from Tommy’s coaches, who testified to his tenacity as well as his
unfailing talent and leadership.
“He’s one of the best kids you could have,” said Danny Kolts, Tommy’s varsity lacrosse coach. “He’s one of the nicest guys-he’s a great person on and off the field.”
Though Tommy joined the lacrosse team as a junior, he immediately became a starting defenseman and a team leader, Kolts said. When Tommy told his coach he was interested in playing for Chapman University, Kolts said he didn’t hesitate to recommend his player to the school’s coach. (Tommy, who will graduate from Santa Fe Christian on June 15, is scheduled to attend Chapman in the fall where he had planned to play lacrosse. Whether he will be able to play lacrosse again is unknown at this time.)
“I told him, ‘You’ll be blessed to have him,’” Kolts said. Kolts said Tommy’s talent, dependability, and “amazing work ethic” made him a natural team leader. “He doesn’t really say a lot on the field, but everybody follows him. Everyone likes him, and they work hard because they don’t want to let him down.”
Tommy’s reliability and maturity carried over to the basketball court, as well, where coach Chad Bickley called him, “one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached.”
Bickley, who coached Tommy for his three years as a guard and defensive specialist on the varsity team, praised Tommy’s even temperament.
“He rarely got discouraged,” Bickley said. “He always did exactly what he had to do. He just
worked so hard. He was tenacious.”
As an example of his persistence, Bickley mentioned a tournament in San Luis Obispo, where, averaging only four points-per-game, Tommy was awarded Most Valuable Player.
“I’ve never been to a tournament where a guy wins MVP averaging four points a game,” said
Bickley. “It was pretty cool to see him get that recognition.”
As a testament to his on-court attitude, the team, in December, instituted the Tommy Mallon
Award, given for the player who, as Coach Bickley put it, “accepts his role and works hard.”
Tommy also recently won other top athletic awards.
In an email sent June 2, Mallon’s mother, Beth, thanked everyone for the professionalism and
support they displayed over the past week. Speaking about Kirchhoff’s on-field treatment of Tommy, Beth said, “She saved his life! The ‘hit’ did not appear to be that ‘bad.”
Riki was surrounded by many people and opinions when evaluating Tommy. Even Tommy said, ‘I
am fine’ and wanted to get up. Riki insisted he stay immobilized and stayed firm – we needed to call 911. She stayed firm in her opinion despite feedback from others. She did not back down, held her ground, she knew her job. I hope every trainer in San Diego is as confident and as firm on the field. If Riki had second guessed herself and her decisions Tommy might not have lived through the
accident. I am confident our additional trainer, Krystal Peterson, would have done the same thing…they are both extremely professional and invaluable. I hope the community evaluates
their policies and procedures and reaffirms the necessity of well educated trainers taking care of
our children.”
Beth also praised the professionalism of the paramedics and the trauma team at Scripps Memorial
Hospital. One Scripps doctor even recently made a house call to help Tommy.
“When the [doctor] drove up to the house and saw all the signs and flags welcoming Tommy home he said it looked like Tommy was coming home from a long tour in Iraq with all the love,” said Beth. “Every step of the way, at any point, Tommy’s outcome could have been different. We are the
most grateful family on the planet to have our Tommy home.”
Matt Liebowitz writes for the Carmel Valley News, where this story was originally published.
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