Fort Lee Baseball Player Makes Life-Saving Decision on Flight From Florida

Last week, the Fort Lee Bridgemen baseball team traveled to Florida in hopes of playing a few baseball games and learning more about each other, but in their wildest imaginations, no one could have foreseen the events that took place during their plane ride home Sunday.

As the Bridgemen hovered above the eastern portion of the United States, there was an unusual commotion in the normally quiet plane ride to New Jersey.

About a half hour into the flight, a male passenger, described as being in his 40s, became very ill.

According to various members of the team, the man worsened to the point where the airline staff began to ask if there were any doctors on the plane.

“There were two doctors. They came and they weren’t much help ,” said Fort Lee head coach Mike Raferty, whose team members were collectively sitting next to and near the man in need.

With the man’s wife and two children (believed to be about eight and 12) also unable to revive their family member, one Fort Lee student athlete sprang into action.

In a gesture described as “selfless” and that of a hero, 17-year old Ross Fasman moved his seat mid-flight to the one directly behind the sick man.

A fellow diabetic, the junior infielder was familiar with what to do during instances like this and sought to do what he could.

“[The man] began to have symptoms of hypoglycemia, which is low blood sugar,” Ross said. “Having diabetes myself, I felt it would be apropos if I were to step in and help this man out because I felt I was the most prepared to do so.”

With the wife in a “panic” and the two children visibly “scared,” Fasman recognized the diabetic episode as a severe case, usually associated with young kids.  

“I was in control and I knew what I was doing,” said Ross. “After I stepped in, I think the mood calmed down, but at first it was pretty nerve-wracking.”

Fasman, who hopes to be a doctor someday, found himself doing just that as he tended to the patient multiple times. As the gentleman exited and re-entered sick phases throughout the flight, Ross was there with an emergency box he has for such occasions.

Packed inside the container are juice boxes, sugar tablets and other such items that can be used to control someone's blood sugar levels. They are only to be used in emergency situations, and Ross openly gave what he had to someone he had never met .

After all of the juice was exhausted and still not working on the unresponsive man, Ross began to prepare for a last-ditch effort. According to Coach Mike Raferty, the 17-year-old began preparations to administer a glucagon needle - a glucose-raising device - to a man who was in diabetic shock and suffering convulsions.
 
“[Ross] asked his wife either for consent or if she would administer the needle, and before [Ross actually did that], he tried doing something else and the guy actually responded and woke up,” Raferty said as he re-lived the incident.
 
That something else was a sugar tablet that Fasman fed to the man and encouraged him to continue chewing. As the "turbulent" plane was making its final descent, and all passengers locked in, Ross revived the man just before touching down.

And surprisingly, Ross was one small decision away from not even bringing the life-saving supplies on the plane.  

“I was actually going to check my lunch box that had all the medical supplies [under the plane], because the airline was allowing me to do it for free,” Fasman said as he looked back on his choice to reconsider. “But for some reason I didn’t choose to do so, whether it was a will of God or just me. Everything really came together that needed to [in order] to help this man out.”

So as the aircraft touched down and came to a complete stop, the man was rushed away with his family for further medical assistance, never to be seen again.

In the moments of hands-on assistance in a life-altering moment, Ross did not get the name of the man who he saved that day and has no idea what ever happened to the family after they left the plane.

“If it was a life or death situation, then he is definitely a hero,” coach Raferty said of his infielder. “He gave his supplies…and he was also going to give him his glucagon needle which is for Ross, it’s for Ross, in case this was to happen to Ross. This is why he carries these supplies and this is why he is prepared. But [Ross] totally gave it up for a complete stranger.”

“I’ll never see them again,” said Ross of the family he helped that day. “I hope after the medics came and got him, things went okay, and I’m glad I did my part.”

When the student was first diagnosed with diabetes roughly five years ago, his aunt told him that “I feel you have this disease for a reason,” and Ross has taken the thought to heart.

The Fort Lee High School student has endorsed the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, participated in many fundraising events, given speeches and even organized a Diabetes Run last year that all members of his baseball team participated in.

“Just for me to help this man, whether it is a hint of me being a future doctor or whether it was just a work of fate, it was an interesting experience but I don’t want it to happen again,” Ross said honestly.

Fasman immediately dismissed the suggestion that he was a hero, but many are starting to acknowledge his swift, potentially life-saving actions, including Fort Lee High School, which is in the planning phases of recognizing Ross for those actions.

In the meantime, this 17-year-old is already back to his life as a student in the classroom and a player on the baseball field, knowing full well that he made a difference in someone’s life on that fateful day.

He said, “It was a good ending to a wild trip, and I’m glad things worked out.”