It was supposed to have been a fun-filled holiday weekend at the Jersey Shore for four Hopkins graduates living in New York City. But when John Benedetto ’07, a mechanical engineering major, caught a particularly ferocious wave while bodysurfing that day in 2009, his world changed instantly.
In those first frantic moments, his Hopkins roommate, Joshua Chaffee, A&S ’07, and friends Rocco Francica, A&S ’07, and Juan Sanchez ’07 feared a drowning. But Benedetto was alive, barely. “I hit my head, heard a crack,” he says. “And then everything faded.”
Benedetto’s friends pulled him from the foamy surf to safety. A nurse and firefighter restarted his breathing, and emergency medics rushed him to a nearby hospital. But it wasn’t until Benedetto regained consciousness that doctors, family, and friends discovered the gravity of the injury. “I saw my sister and asked, ‘Am I paralyzed?'”
The wave had slammed Benedetto into the shore, fracturing the C-6 vertebra. Doctors knew the deal: At 24, he was a quadriplegic. What they didn’t know was the grit, determination, and mental strength of an all-star baseball player from Staten Island who had set his sights on Hopkins as a seventh-grader and methodically moved himself toward his goal until graduating with a near 4.0-earning him the nickname “Johnny 4.0” from his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers.
“Every once in a while you get that special student” says Assistant Professor Lester Su. “John was that guy.”
With the support of family and friends, Benedetto’s accomplishments have been nothing short of astounding. Doctors expected him to be on a ventilator for weeks; he was breathing ahead of the breathing machine in three days. High school teammates organized an alumni baseball game to raise funds for his mounting medical costs; he attended (his first foray out of the hospital in nearly 100 days) and threw the first pitch. His physical therapists encouraged him to exercise; he returned to plans to run the 2010 New York City Marathon. “When I set goals, I push hard to achieve them,” he says.
But how? One therapist suggested a handcycle-a three-wheeled recumbent vehicle powered by the arms rather than the legs. With the help of therapists, he joined the Christopher & Dana Reeves Foundation’s marathon team.
In February 2010, Benedetto started the hard work, taking 45 minutes to wheel himself three miles. Each day, he hit the roads again, and grew stronger. By race day, he was in game form. “After the accident, everyone was so cautious, so careful,” he says. “It was like, ‘We can’t leave John alone.’ So here I was on the streets of New York, by myself. I had my friends to help. But I felt strong and healthy. I was an athlete again.” His finish: 3:44:03.
He raised more than $11,000 for the Reeves Foundation, placing him as a top five finisher in that competition. The money will be used to fund research in innovative treatments for spinal cord injuries.
With the marathon behind him, Benedetto has his sights on finishing a master’s degree in financial engineering next year. Prior to his injury, he worked as an account management associate at Bridge-water Associates LP, a Connecticut firm that manages $85 billion in global investments. This summer, he hopes to secure an internship. Eventually he will return to finance full time, specializing in using sophisticated mathematical models to improve portfolio performance.
And he’ll continue training. He works out at a gym, and he uses a cycling system that delivers electrical stimulation to his legs and core to keep his muscles moving. “If, and when the cure comes, I need my lower body to be strong and healthy,” he says.
Does he ever draw inspiration from his Homewood days? He pauses, and reflects on a note sent to him by his professor, Su, shortly after the injury. “This is just one more challenge in which you will excel,” Su wrote. Benedetto smiles. “I keep that in the back of my mind.”