Friday, December 14, 2012
Sophomore Keyla Martinez, 15, returns to the court Friday just one year removed from suffering a life-threatening cerebral hemorrhage that forced her to miss all of last season.
She's just a sophomore but there's a decided swagger to Keyla Martinez's game that belies her relative on-court inexperience. Watching her effortlessly push the fast break after a rebound and coolly dish to a teammate under the basket for an easy bucket, it's hard to believe that last year at this time she was in a coma, fighting for her life. "It's just a miracle," said Keyla's mother, Luisa, of her daughter's full recovery from a cerebral hemorrhage last November. Keyla's first six months after the incident were a flurry of medical tests, scans, surgeries and physical and occupational therapy. Doctors still don't know what caused Keyla's brain bleed, and may never know, but they've given her a completely clean bill of health. She'll …
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Missed any of this week's coverage? It's all here
Monday, Dec. 12 VIDEO: Santa Boone Pays a Visit to Fair Lawn Family When Liz Twiggs, coordinator of the Fair Lawn Food Pantry, found out that one of her clients couldn't afford a Christmas tree this holiday season, she sprung into action and launched, "Operation Santa Boone." With the help of Detective David Boone and food pantry volunteer Beri Raffiani, Twiggs procured a 7.5-foot pre-lit tree, a wreath, two shopping cartloads of food, some small gifts and an additional top secret Christmas gift (to be opened on Christmas Day) for her client, Theresa, and Theresa's family. On Dec. 6, the crew (Twiggs and her daughter Bridget Maresca dressed as elves, Boone dressed as Santa and Raffiani as herself) launched "Operation Santa Boone" -- a …
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Today's top local events and tips
"Five Things" is a daily Patch feature where we give you Fair Lawn's top five tips and events for each day of the week. Have a suggestion for a "Five Things" item? E-mail me at zak.koeske@patch.com. 1) This afternoon head over to the Fair Lawn Community Center and see the one-man Skyline Theatre Production of A Christmas Carol. There will be one performance only -- at 2 p.m. Admission is $28 general admission, $20 seniors and $18 students. The show will be followed by a cider-and-cookies reception in the lobby. Call 1-800-474-1299 to make reservations or arrive at the door on the day of the performance at least a half-hour before the show. 2) The Agape Road Show, performs its Christmas-Hanukkah show at Maple Glen Center Saturday from 2 p…
The Girls Basketball team dedicated the night to freshman point guard Keyla Martinez, who's recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage
The Lady Cutters couldn't quite pull out a victory in front of a packed crowd on opening night Friday against Ramapo, losing 37-35 in a game the team dedicated to freshman guard Keyla Martinez. Martinez, who is recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage she suffered while working out with the team the Monday before Thanksgiving, was released from the hospital Sunday. She came to Friday's game with her parents, Ruben and Luisa, and was honored before the game. During the contest, Martinez sat on the bench with the team, dressed in her team jersey and jeans. Fans wore Keyla Martinez t-shirts and periodically broke out into rousing chants of, "Let's Go Keyla!" The Lady Cutters got off to a lead early in the game, but got into foul trouble matching…
Friday, December 16, 2011
Keyla Martinez, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage last month, is expected to attend the team's home opener Friday against Ramapo that is being dedicated in her honor.
One moment Keyla Martinez was a healthy, vibrant 14-year old freshman basketball phenom, just a few weeks away from embarking on her first varsity season. The next moment she was being rushed to the hospital in a fight for her life. “We were doing just some basic running and jump roping and core work,” girls basketball coach Chris Lovermi said of the day Keyla fell ill. “[Keyla] complained of a stomach ache, which I thought was just from the workout. But it was obvious after a few minutes that it was a little bit more than that.” When Keyla arrived at the hospital, doctors discovered intracranial bleeding and she was placed in a medically-induced coma to reduce pressure on her brain. Keyla remained comatose in the intensive care unit for …
Today's top local events and tips
"Five Things" is a daily Patch feature where we give you Fair Lawn's top five tips and events for each day of the week. Have a suggestion for a "Five Things" item? E-mail me at zak.koeske@patch.com. 1) The Fair Lawn High School Girls Basketballl team opens its season Friday against Ramapo at home, and will be looking to avenge an embarrassing defeat they suffered at the hands of the Raiders on opening night last year. The game itself will be secondary to the return of the night's honoree - freshman guard Keyla Martinez. Martinez fell seriously ill during a team workout just before Thanksgiving and had to be rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for 21 days. She was recently released and will be attending the game with her parents, as a…
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The girls open their season Friday at home against Ramapo
The Fair Lawn Girls Basketball team was a disappointing 3-12 last year before a stunning turnaround in the season’s final month snuck them into the state tournament, where they knocked off No. 1 seed North Bergen and arch rival Ridgewood. Second-year head coach Chris Lovermi doesn’t think it’ll take quite as long this season before the team hits its stride. “This year,” Lovermi said Tuesday after the team’s scrimmage with Mahwah, “the girls understand what my expectations are, they understand a little bit more about the offenses and defenses, and they understand about coming to work everyday and preparing ourselves for the season ahead.” He attributes a lot of that preparedness to time the team spent playing together this summer in a local…
Beallair Bob
11:12 pm on Sunday, December 16, 2012
Read between the lines.The coaching staff is horrible. Girls have been quitting because they don't like the coach. They treat the kids like dirt and have an antiquated style of basketball. The athletic director is to blame. We keep losing good players because our coaches are not suited for today's game. I wish Keyla and the Martinez family good fortune. If your kid wants to play basketball Fair … more ›