NYC Sports Stars Rally Around Fan Who Lost His Leg In Crash

NEW YORK CITY — A horrific car crash earlier this month wasn't enough to stop Nicholas Campanella laughing and telling jokes despite it severing his left leg. But when the New York Giants' running back Saquon Barkley sent him a video wishing him luck on the next of several surgeries to come, he was almost brought to tears.

Total strangers, including some of New York's most famous athletes, have joined the friends and family of Campanella — who was hit by a car as he was coming home to NYC from Six Flags on Nov. 2 —to raise more than $130,000 to help him adapt to life with one leg. That outpouring makes him emotional.

"It’s about making him realize he has love," said his cousin Alessandra Albano, 18. "It makes me so happy that so many people are behind him."

Albano, a biology student at St. Joseph's College in Long Island, was one of a group of family and friends who went with Campanella to the New Jersey amusement park the day of the tragic crash, she said.

The group was driving home in two cars just before midnight when suddenly Campanella's car was rear-ended on Monmouth Road, she said.

Campanella, from Staten Island, told everyone else to stay in the car, then stepped out onto the highway to check on his bumper moments before another car came speeding down the highway, Albano said.

The car smashed into the car behind him, jolting it forward and slamming him against his own vehicle, Albano said. He was trapped.

Albano, in the second car a few miles ahead, got a call moments later. "Nick is bleeding," her cousin Marco said. "Turn back."

His cousin Peter jumped into the driver's seat and drove forward to free his cousin from the crash, Albano said.

"He actually really helped Nicholas," she said, adding that a nurse who happened to be on the highway stopped and put a tourniquet on his leg. "We're so grateful."

By the time Albano and her friends had turned around and rushed back, they found her cousin surrounded by blue and red flashing lights, Albano said.

His sister Valentina was crying, Campanella was in an ambulance and blood was splattered across the highway, she said.

And Campanella's dad kept calling and calling.

"Where's he going?" Jerry Campanella asked again and again. "I don't know," she replied. "I'm not gonna start saying things that aren't true."

Meanwhile, Campanella was waiting in a helicopter, parked in the Six Flags parking lot, to find out which hospital could take him, she said.

Finally he took off for Jersey Shore University Medical Center, with Albano and her brother Peter following in a police car through the dark.

Albano's and Campanella's dads met them at the hospital and the family waited as doctor's removed the 24-year-old's left leg, she said.

Daylight saving time ended the night of the crash and only aggravated Albano's feeling that she was living through the longest night of her life, she said.

"He lost a whole lotta blood... they told us we almost lost him," she said. "That night just felt like it wasn’t ending."

It was noon Sunday when surgeons allowed Campanella's family to see him, and they've been by his side as doctors battle an infection in his stump, which they must mold to fit a prosthetic, Albano said.

The family's mission has been to keep him in good spirits — which Albano said is easy to do because of his charm— and get him the resources he'll need.

That's why his uncle Jerry launched a GoFundMe page to pay for medical bills, ramps and a new car Campanella will need to keep his independence.

In 24 hours it raised almost $100,000, Albano said.

GoFundMe donors are not the only people reaching out, said Albano. Campenella, a big sports fan, is getting support from his favorite teams.

The New York Yankee's sent a care package, New York Rangers defenseman Tony Deangelo and Bark sent personal video messages, and New York Jets running back Le'Veon Bell sent him a signed jersey with the message, "Get well soon, brother."

"I never thought we would have gotten an answer from any of them," said Albano.

"It’s just tremendous what all those people are doing," Albano said. "It makes me so happy that so many people are behind him, which he really needs."

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