Nazareth Area High School's Chuck Dibilio pushes to get back to 100 percent after stroke

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Anyone familiar with Chuck Dibilio knows what type of person he is.

Dedicated. Loyal. Hard working. Humble. Positive.

So it's no surprise that the former Nazareth Area High School football and basketball star was able to joke and laugh while talking about suffering a stroke on Jan. 19.

"I got all my (football) records and that, but I go in the hospital and now I am national," Dibilio said at his home on Saturday night. "That's probably the only good thing to come out of this, is that I got on SportsCenter."

Dibilio, a 19-year-old freshman running back at Princeton University, is on the road to recovery after suffering the stroke while studying for a final exam and spending one week in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

The 2011 Ivy League Rookie of the Year vividly remembers what occurred that evening, having recited the series of events countless times since.

"I was with four teammates and we were studying for a calculus final we had on Friday morning," he recalled. "I was talking about the fundamental theorem of calculus then all of a sudden my voice was terrible, I couldn't talk at all and it was just 'blah, blah, blah.' Then my right arm and right leg I couldn't move at all, so they called 911 right away.

"In like a minute, the ambulance was there and I went to the hospital at Princeton. Then they helicoptered me to Jefferson in Philly and I got my surgery there."

Dibilio, who said he remembers the majority of the night minus a few details, said he didn't lose consciousness during the whole ordeal.

On the morning of Jan. 20, he underwent a procedure to alleviate a blood clot in the main artery of his brain.

He remained in the hospital until Wednesday.

"Honestly I just slept a lot, I was exhausted the entire time," he said. "A lot of people came by -- coaches from high school and college and friends from college and even some from up here. It was fun to see all them, but I really didn't know what was going on.

"I was just flowing with it. I was disappointed with it, but at the same time, couldn't do anything about it, so I was relaxing a bit."

The determined Dibilio improved mightily during his week stay, getting back to "100 percent physically," though mentally, he admitted, "I'm not there yet."

The 2010 Express-Times Football Player of the Year had an evaluation at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center on Friday to determine the amount of speech therapy he would undergo.

Besides needing to take one aspirin a day as a blood thinner, Dibilio will have three therapy sessions per week, focusing on improving skills including speech and reading comprehension.

"Right now I'm a lot better, especially since a week ago when it happened," he said. "I still have a lot of therapy in the near future, but everything's all right now."




Chuck Dibilio talks about the stroke he suffered at Princeton

The former Nazareth Area High School star athlete discusses his recovery from a stroke he suffered on Jan. 20 at Princeton University.

Watch video

Dibilio confirmed the doctors are still running more tests to find out the cause of the stroke.

Prior to his senior season with the Blue Eagles, the two-sport star -- who also was a 1,000-point scorer in basketball -- suffered a spleen infarction when 10 percent of the organ died.

His season, in both sports, was in doubt.

Despite missing most of summer training camp and spending three days in the hospital, Dibilio was able to rush for 2,050 yards and 30 touchdowns for Nazareth that fall.

No correlation between the two incidents has been determined as of yet.

Dibilio made it out Friday night to watch his younger brother, Ryan -- who now wears Chuck's old No. 32 jersey and will for the rest of the season -- and Nazareth play basketball at Liberty High School.


Blue Eagles basketball coach Joe Arndt had his former star athlete stand up from his seat in the stands as Dibilio received a rousing ovation.

"It's great, everyone's supporting me so much," Dibilio said. "It was nice because everyone came up and asked how I was doing. I had a lot of fun. I want to thank everyone who said 'Get well' and everything like that."

Dibilio admitted his status for the next semester at Princeton, which begins Feb. 6, is up in the air, saying "we'll see how things go, especially this week."

As for football?

"As of right now, I'm allowed to play, but it depends on what medicines they put me on so it can change," Dibilio said. "We're not exactly sure. I'll do whatever I have to do to get back to 100 percent so I can play football. I really want to do that."

He's even more excited for next season because he'll be back in the Lehigh Valley for a pair of games in 2012 -- Sept. 15 at Lehigh University and Oct. 6 at Lafayette College.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/01/nazareth_area_high_schools_chu_2.html