DeFeo’s comeback inspires Woburn
Soph defenseman spent two months in hospital
For as prepared as Woburn boys hockey head coach Jim Duran might have felt for the seasonopener’s pre-game meeting on Dec. 13, he wasn’t ready for it to get quite so emotional.
Just like any other, he talked strategy. Everything he said focused on the game for about 10 straight minutes. He was on a roll with his speech, until sophomore defenseman Matt DeFeo spoke up from the corner of the room to ask if was going to get a chance to play.
After spending two months in Boston Children’s Hospital, much of which he was unexpectedly paralyzed and intubated for, DeFeo had snuck into the room before Duran got there. It was his first day out, and before DeFeo even got home for the first time in months, he made sure to stop in on the way to surprise the team.
“He walked in with a huge smile (before Duran got there), everyone was going crazy,” said Woburn junior forward Jack Lee. “Coach came in to give his speech and he didn’t see him until after. … It was hilarious. Just awesome energy.”
“That was an emotional day for everybody,” Duran added.
The connection within the Tanners’ locker room runs deep. Ask DeFeo who his best friends are on the team, and his list is long before adding that everyone is pretty close. That’s part of what has fueled Woburn toward a 12-5 record entering the weekend as it contends for a Div. 2 state title.
It wasn’t long ago at all, though, that they feared they might lose one of their best friends since preschool.
During a golf match against Reading in late September, DeFeo was fine. He felt sick enough to go to the doctor’s office the next day, but not sick enough to keep him from playing through it. Woburn junior Jack McEleney remembers DeFeo’s discomfort, just as vividly as the unexpected turn in his best friend’s health.
DeFeo was diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis (mono), but the next few days got worse than just general weakness. In two days, he needed to lean on his parents to walk around the house. In the next two, he couldn’t feel his feet or bear weight at all.
His local hospital didn’t know what it was. Out of seemingly nowhere, he needed to go to Boston Children’s.
“We had no idea (what was happening),” DeFeo said. “I thought I was probably coming home the next morning. Little did I know I wasn’t coming home for months.”
After a night of testing, doctors said he had Guillain-Barré Sydrome, which is a rare disorder nobody around the DeFeos had ever heard of. DeFeo’s immune system was attacking his nerves, leading to an ascending paralysis.
Within a week of his original diagnosis, DeFeo couldn’t walk. Within two in the intensive care unit, he was paralyzed from the neck down, couldn’t breathe and couldn’t speak.
“It was weird because I didn’t get into an accident,” DeFeo said. “I just remember wondering when am I going to be at my worst because (the paralysis) just kept going up and up every day. Then eventually, when it was at my neck, that was my worst. It was crazy. … I was anxious (and) wicked nervous.”
“There was one day where I’m standing next to him, we’re playing together, having a good time. Eating lunch together, school,” McEleney added. “And then the next week you’re like, ‘Holy crap,’ and then it just keeps going and the whole school is talking about it.”
DeFeo was intubated for about five weeks, starting with a tube in his mouth, moved to his nose, and finally moved to his throat. He couldn’t eat, drink or talk, and even asked one night if he was going to die.
His friends wondered the same.
“(Our parents) didn’t want to tell us straight up that there’s a chance, but they just kind of kept it to a secret saying ‘Things aren’t looking too good right now,’” McEleney said.
As the staff at Boston Children’s helped DeFeo survive the worst of his symptoms, his friends and family did what they could.
His parents were at his side the whole time, and his older brother, in college, was there when he could be. His hockey teammates, in pairs at a time, were visiting him almost every day — even though he couldn’t speak. Seeing his family spend Thanksgiving at the hospital with him, and his golf/hockey friends organize a fundraiser soccer game with the girls soccer team, are two acts that particularly stuck out.
All of the time they spent with him, though, made the biggest difference.
“They visited a lot, which it helps get you through the day,” DeFeo said. “I just felt so bad, just so down. Everyone at the hospital is just so miserable, and all the parents, you can tell that every parent is so defeated there. … It just felt so good, made me feel so much better. Like, ‘OK, I’m fighting for this.’”
By the time he could breathe on his own and was ready to start rehab, DeFeo had lost 50 pounds. He’s worked every day at relearning just about every motor function — as basic as lifting his arm or sitting up on the side of his bed. And now, after extensive rehab, he’s back to a sense of normalcy.
The only things still missing are any feeling in his feet and his normal stamina. But while he can’t feel anything below his ankles, that wasn’t going to keep him off the ice.
Since that day he stopped into the team meeting, DeFeo has attended every game and almost every practice. He started to practice himself a few weeks ago, participating in noncontact drills. The Tanners even let him start on Thursday for the puck drop before quickly rushing him off.
“It’s just so good to be back,” DeFeo said. “That’s kind of just been my goal this whole time, just to be back where I was. … People wonder, ‘Do you need therapy? It was very traumatizing.’ My therapy is being back with my friends, being at practice. That’s what makes me feel good again.”
He’s still a long way away from participating in any of his three sports, but is working toward playing his full junior season if he can. In the meantime, everyone around him is just happy he’s healthy, and he’s an inspiration for them all.
“Obviously it’s a huge loss (on the ice), he’s a great player,” Lee said. “But I’d say the biggest thing is … usually we’re around him every day. He’s one of my best friends. Just him not being there (for so long) was a huge loss.”
“We see him walk in the locker room every day and we’re just, like, we’re going to cherish every moment we can have,” McEleney added. “Just seeing a smile on his face, laughing, telling stories of what it was like, it’s just cool how he can be happy now.”
One-timers
Hockeyland’s cutoff date is on Thursday (Feb. 22) and state tournament pairings will be released on Saturday.
Entering Saturday’s Div. 2 state final rematch against Duxbury, the Canton girls have gone 12-1-1 with six shutouts since a disappointing loss to Dedham.
In avenging its only loss of the year, the Nauset boys have now scored at least three goals over 11 straight games.
The jaw-dropping streak continues out of Westwood, as the boys punched their ticket to a 41st straight trip to the state tournament.