By Andy Walter

DOVER — Vinny Buttillo doesn’t remember a three-week span of his life last autumn.

All things considered, that probably isn’t a bad thing.

Because while the Dover High student was in coma, all the people that know him were worrying about whether the youngster would ever be the same.

Buttillo was one of three Senator football players injured in a car accident on Oct. 22.

A backup place kicker, Buttillo had gotten the worst of it. Thrown through the windshield, he had suffered a traumatic brain injury and broken most of the bones in his face — along with some skull and vertebrae fractures.

There were no guarantees how much, when or even if Buttillo would recover.

When he finally did come out of his coma, Buttillo remembers the question he asked.

“I was like, ‘When can I get back to sports?’” he remembered. “They were like, ‘Probably not for a year. Maybe two.’”

So how do you explain that there Buttillo was on Wednesday night, playing a quarter for Dover in its boys’ lacrosse game with Milford? It’s been just shy of six months since the accident.

Some of the people closest to Buttillo say there is no explanation — not a medical one anyway.

“It’s a true miracle,” said Dover coach Gavin Schukoske. “I mean I never thought I would see him on a lacrosse field again.

“When I got that phone call (about the accident), I was expecting funeral arrangements not ‘Hey he’s woken up. .... Hey, he’s going to be released within the month. .... Hey, he’s got no cognitive damage, he’s going to be able to return to school this year.’ Every expectation I had has been blown out of the water, time and time again. It’s amazing.”

No guarantees

As she watched over her son’s recovery at Wilmington’s A.I. DuPont Children’s Hospital, Amy Buttillo said she never lost hope that he’d be OK.

But, when it comes to brain injuries, the Dover High English teacher knows that almost anything — either good or bad — is possible.

“They originally told me that we would be in the hospital for at least 12 weeks and possibly longer,” said Amy. “They said, until he wakes up, we have no idea what kind of damage was done — whether he would walk, whether he would talk, move, anything like that. We didn’t know.”

In the end, Buttillo was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for three weeks and in the hospital for five and a half weeks. For the first 12 days, he was in a coma.

Amy Buttillo said the doctors thought he might never recover to more than 75 percent of where he was before the accident.

Yet, here Vinny is now, pretty much back to 100 percent.

“It’s kind of a miracle, I think,” said Amy Buttillo. “The doctors that saw him when he was comatose and then saw him a few weeks later, they’re like, ‘I never thought he would recover this quickly.’

“I think they were a little shocked at the recovery. There were some other kids in the rehab unit, one had been there like two years with the same type of injuries.

“Now that I look back at it,” she added, “he was much worse off than I let myself believe.”

Buttillo doesn’t have any answers for her son’s remarkable recovery. She said there were a lot of prayer chains for Vinny and the other two teenagers in the crash, Brandon Yoder and Nicolas Whiteman.

All three survived the accident, although Whiteman has undergone a number of surgeries on his back.

“I mean we heard from people in states all over the country,” said Amy Buttillo. “‘We’re praying for your boys.’

“The power of prayer, maybe that’s it. Who knows? ... There’s a lot of things that could have gone wrong. Who knows why they didn’t?”

Vinny Buttillo made his first appearance with Dover’s boys’ lacrosse team on Wednesday night. Submitted photo

Back on the field

In some ways, Vinny had the easy part in Wednesday’s lacrosse game.

He just had to get out there and play the sport he loves again.

“I was very excited,” said Buttillo. “I know it was scary for a lot of people but all I felt was adrenaline and excitement — like the old days.”

Buttillo, who plays defense, was asked if he took any hits in the game.

“I didn’t take any hits,” he answered with a laugh. “But I hit some people.”

Of course, Buttillo’s mom had a little different perspective. Amy remembered how fragile her son seemed in the hospital.

The first time he tried to sit up, Vinny only lasted for about 90 seconds. On Wednesday, though, he played the whole second quarter.

“I had a lot of anxiety watching him,” said Amy. “Just knowing all the injuries that he had and knowing he’s still healing, for me it was a little anxiety.

“But he loves the sport. He’s been begging to get back to it.”

Buttillo’s teammates were thrilled to have him back, naturally. Keegan Countryman is a good friend of Buttillo’s and a teammate in both football and lacrosse.

“Honestly, it was kind of electrifying,” said Countryman. “After everything he’s been through and then seeing him back out there again, it was really nice to see.

“You could see he was having fun, he was playing hard. Not that long ago, you were thinking would you ever see him again? ... It was a magical feeling. He held his own.”

The Senators still lost the game, 12-5, to fall to 0-6 on the season. But Schukoske said they played with a different energy.

Schukoske let Buttillo wear jersey No. 32, which had been previously retired.

“I didn’t plan to ever use that number again,” said Schukoske. “(But) I thought of no better number to bring back for this miracle.

“I’m not going to lie,” the coach added. “I did tear up a little bit when he got on the field.”

Vinny Buttillo’s mom, Amy, says he’s gotten back to being the same kid he was before the accident. Submitted photo

While Buttillo doesn’t remember the accident, he’s seen some photos of the wreck.

He has an understanding of how bad it was.

“I know I’m a very lucky guy,”said Buttillo. “It’s hard for me to comprehend because, for the worst part of it, I wasn’t really aware.”

More than anything, he just wants things to get back to where they were. Buttillo returned to school in February.

Playing lacrosse again is another big step forward.

“It was a big milestone to get back on the field,” Buttillo said.”Just being a part of a team, fighting for something. Just getting back to normalcy was my goal.”

On the other hand, in some ways, Buttillo never can be the same as he was before the accident.

Not exactly.

“That’s a scary thing to go through,” he said. “I try to look at life a little differently. Overall, I feel like I’m the same guy.

“It will always be a big part of my life. I learned from this. It’s amazing to see everyone (Yoder and Whiteman) is alright. That was scarier than what happened to me.”