Jack Aloisi

I had a bad construction accident. Two stories and a ladder collapsed. I cracked my head open, had neck, back and nerve damage down both legs. It was horrible. I lost everything. It ruined my life. My livelihood was totally gone in a few seconds. You don’t realize it could be you.

At first, I refused to get rods in my back, refused to get neck surgery. I held out for 3, 4 years. I was getting steroid injections every six weeks, then off 3 months, alternating neck and back. I had a false sense of feeling better but the side effects were bad. I gained 40, 50 pounds. It affected my personality.

One day my doctor suggested I look into swimming. I was always a good swimmer as a kid. He said “There’s a YMCA in Rye, why don’t you check it out?” After months and months of him telling me to do that, I finally pulled into the Y. I walked in and behind the counter in a little office was Barbara Hughes. I told her I was considering joining for physical reasons. I’m thinking we are going to have a 2-minute conversation. She asked everything about me and I told her. She said “Jack, this is where you need to be. I don’t care if it’s 5 minutes a day. Just get here.” I said “What?” I was taken aback. I didn’t even know her. I was just inquiring about what the Y has to offer, how much it charges.

This was 8 years ago and I was in a very dark place. I had lost everything. So I joined. I came one day. I was very, very uncomfortable. I didn’t look good. I was always into sports so I was never insecure but now, after the hell I’d gone through in the last couple years, I felt embarrassed. I would last 5 minutes in the water, feel uncomfortable and get out, get dressed and go to the car. Sometimes I would drive to the parking lot, put my car in park and next thing you know, put it in reverse and just leave.

After 3 weeks, I decided I wasn’t coming back. I tried it, it wasn’t for me. A lot of people join gyms, you go in and scan and nobody knows you’re there. All of a sudden my phone rings. And it’s Barbara. She says, “Jack, How are you doing? I notice you haven’t been here.” How does this woman who has hundreds of members know that I didn’t make it in? Meanwhile, her office is back there behind the check-in desk; she couldn’t see everybody. She must be going through the computer. She says “Jack you’ve got to come.” I had every excuse in the book and threw every excuse at her. “You’ve just got to get here, I don’t care if it’s just 5 minutes.” She just kept repeating, “this is where you need to be, this is where you belong, this is a family.”