By Jerome Burdi
The Sun-Sentinel
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Besides his family, there are two things fire-rescue paramedic Sean Migone loves: his job and the ocean.
Those loves met at about 4 p.m. Dec. 1, 2007, at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach. Migone, 39, was playing around with his son and his girlfriend’s two children when he noticed a teenager floating facedown in the shallow water.
“Something looks like it’s wrong with this guy,” he heard someone say.
So the off-duty Boca Raton paramedic snapped into duty mode. The young man’s body was limp in the water. He could not feel his limbs.
“The waves kept slapping up on his face,” Migone said.
Suspecting a spinal injury, Migone pulled him out of the water, keeping the man’s neck straight so as not to cause any further injuries. A person not trained in first aid might have pulled the man from under his arms, leaving his neck to be pushed by a wave, which could cause severe damage.
“It’s not what I did, it’s what I didn’t do,” Migone said. “You have a spinal injury and someone’s moving you, you’re done, you’re sucking through a straw the rest of your life.”
For his efforts, Migone was named the 2008 Boca Raton Paramedic of the Year. He’s worked at Boca Raton Fire-Rescue for five years, after serving seven with the Hialeah fire department and one year as a firefighter on Andros Island in the Bahamas.
After pulling the teen out of the water, Migone covered Phillip Ross, then 17, with towels and waited with him until Dania Beach Fire Rescue arrived in the 6500 block of North Ocean Drive.
“I was nervous but [Migone] was very calm; he knew exactly what he was doing,” said Migone’s girlfriend, Lisa Comprosky. “He was completely in control.”
Ross, of North Miami Beach, ran into the ocean, dove into foot-deep water and hit a sandbar. He broke his neck in two places, leaving him temporarily paralyzed and bobbing helplessly in the waves. He went through surgery and months of rehabilitation at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood.
Ross can now walk again and is out of therapy, said his mother, Elisa Ross. She is grateful to Migone.
“He deserves every recognition he can possibly get,” she said. “He saved my son’s life.”
Boca Raton Fire-Rescue spokesman Frank Correggio said the case shows the importance of first aid and CPR classes for the public.
“You never know when an emergency can occur, whether it be a bystander, a friend or a loved one,” Correggio said. “You may not have the luxury of having a professional there the minute that emergency happens.”
Migone’s act inspired the kids watching that day. “My son told me he wants to be a firefighter,” Comprosky said.
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