Lola Karimi ’25
EE Editor-in-Chief
Jack Godo, a junior in our community at Trumbull High, is now on the road to recovery after having successful brain surgery.
Jack Godo’s daily routine has completely changed, going from intense hours of dance to relearning the ability to walk. But, not to my surprise, it seems that it will not be long before he finds his spot on the stage again.
With just two weeks left in his recovery at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, his passion guides him through every step as he relearns life basics.
“His balance was gone, completely gone. He couldn’t even sit up without passing out the first couple of days,” his mother Amy Godo said. “Unfortunately, nothing about this process has gone smoothly for Jack”.
In August, Jack had an MRI to try to determine the cause of some hearing loss. What doctors discovered was a massive tumor that had been growing for years.
“It was horrific. They basically told us, he needs to go to the emergency room, get checked out, and then, within about a week and a half, the tumor was removed,” Ms. Godo explained. “He was in the ICU for about 10 days. There were a lot of complications. It got very scary.”
Jack has spent his life in and out of different dance studios. “He just went from a little kid who loved to tap and bounce around to a very serious artist,” owner of Rockwell Dance Center, Nikole Lachioma, told News 12. “He’s super talented and his work ethic is – you can’t compare it really”.
Luckily, Jack is all too familiar with the concept of repetition and it is through this we are able to see visible progress every day.
“The wonderful thing about Jack is that he’s 16, and young people really do very, very well in the grand scheme of things from a rehabilitation perspective, but Jack also is very determined to get back to what he was doing before the surgery,” explained Dr. Alyse Sicklick, medical director of Inpatient Rehabilitation at Gaylord. “He has incredible goals and aspirations for the future and there’s no reason to think at this point that all of those things aren’t possible in his future and. As we like to say here at Gaylord, just think possible”.
“His progression from then to now is just incredible,” said friend and dancer Britton McGrath.
“He’s such a nice guy to hang around, and he brings up everyone’s mood. He always checks up on you. He cares for you,” added friend and dancer Karina Ayala.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the dance studio, including many from our own community, visited Jack at Gaylord on Saturday, bringing with them over 100 flower bouquets they put together for him, other patients, and staff.
“It was kind of an emotional experience, like coming with everyone and the flowers were beautiful,” said friend and dancer Luke Hatzis.
“That was just amazing just to see everybody, and it really meant a lot to me,” Jack told News 12.
There is a gofundme on our Instagram page @ths_eagleseye
Any donation counts!!!
Photos: Lola Karimi