Anthony Sassi
Anthony was driving from his home in Woodbury to Norwich University in March 2008 when a driver coming toward him hit Anthony's car head on. Rescue workers had to use two sets of the Jaws of Life to extricate him through the roof.
"I remember the popping and crunching sounds," says Anthony, 19, who suffered a concussion and injuries to his legs, shoulders, and skull.
The longest-lasting damage was to his short-term memory, which has forced Anthony, an unusually motivated student, to learn new ways to study. He tapes his classes so he can listen to the lectures repeatedly, and he's learned to be patient with himself, taking more time to focus and absorb information.
"It's pretty frustrating," he confesses, adding that full recovery of his memory function could take a couple of years.
Before his own accident, Anthony had had plenty of experience with medical trauma. Despite his youth, he served on ambulance and rescue squads in Hardwick and Woodbury, and at Vermont Technical College while he was a student there. Once enrolled at Norwich, he wasted no time joining the university's emergency medical services team. He is state-certified and nationally certified as a First Responder.
Why this laser focus on medical rescue? Because he never again wants to feel helpless, as he did first while watching his grandfather's decline from silicosis contracted in Barre's granite sheds, and then when he was 11 and home alone with his father, who went into anaphylactic shock. Since then, he has been intent on becoming a doctor and is pursuing a biology degree with a pre-med orientation. A near-fatal car wreck isn't going to stop him.
Finances might have, though, had it not been for loans and scholarships, including two that he applied for through VSAC's Vermont Scholarship Fund. Those resources have been vital, since the accident kept him from working last summer. And since rescue workers in his community are all volunteers, having scholarships enables him to continue to perform those services without remuneration.
A seventh-generation Vermonter, Anthony Sassi says that once he becomes a doctor, he'll use his skills here in his home state, noting that he'll be especially empathetic when it comes to treating accident victims.