THE Woorinen senior football team presented former Tiger Salvatore (Sam) Giampaolo with a signed jumper on his first visit to his home turf in 13 years.
Sam watched his old club take on Swan Hill at Woorinen Recreation Park on Saturday, his former under-17 teammates now filling the Reserve side.
Sam was excited to visit his old stomping ground and be surrounded by friends and family who joined him to celebrate his return.
“It’s very nice to have the support from the team – I played here in under 11s to colts,” he said.
“I’m really happy, it’s like being a kid again.”
Woorinen Football and Netball Club president it is always good when the team gets to welcome old players back to the club.
“Days like today are significant and a very special time,” he said.
Sam’s close friends Steven Lazzara and Trent Hughes made the trip to Woorinen to see him in his element.
“I haven’t seen Sam this happy in a long time,” Mr Lazzara said.
“We’ve been friends since we were young and stayed close after he moved down to Melbourne, and I still visit him a few times a year.
“Every time I leave he says he’s coming home with me, and I always tell him he’s got work at the vineyard whenever he wants it.
“He’s still the same guy I made friends with, still a smart ass.”
Sam grew up in the Swan Hill region, going to school at St Mary’s Primary School and MacKillop College, playing football for Woorinen until his last year of under-17s when he defected to join his friends on the Swan Hill team, and starting his career as an electrician with Billy Charnock Electrical.
He moved to Melbourne at 18 to live with his cousin when the drought hit the job market in Swan Hill and secured full time work within two weeks.
Sam was freshly 21 when he last visited his father Mick in Swan Hill, returning to Melbourne on Monday after celebrating Easter at home in time for work on Tuesday morning.
At 5am Tuesday, Mick received the call from the police that every parent dreads – that Sam had been in a serious accident that he might not survive.
Sam had been driving to work in wet weather going 60km/h in a 90km/h zone when he went over a rise and hit a puddle, hydroplaning into a power pole at full speed.
He suffered an acquired brain injury which affects the left side of his body and now requires around the clock care.
Mick’s life was split between caring for Sam in Melbourne and caring for his mother in Swan Hill, who was 82 at the time of the accident.
“I went straight to Alfred Hospital – I’d never been there before and parked in the first spot I saw, and when I came out at 9pm that night I had a parking fine,” he remembered.
“I’ve been to Melbourne every week since the accident, I would go down for three days to be with Sam and get back home to help Mum get groceries.
“I have five children and I would do the same for any of them.
“My daughters took every holiday, every sick day, every moment they had to go down.
“We didn’t know whether he would live, and I thank God he’s come this far.”
Due to the complex care Sam requires and the expenses of providing such care, it took approvals from his doctors, occupational therapist and a neuropsychologist, funding from Transport Accident Commission and more to get him home.
“It’s been 13 years of red tape, it’s bedlam,” Mick said.
“We needed four carers to drive him up and provide his care while he was here, and they were happy to do it and work the weekend because Sam is such a nice guy, very funny.”
Mick’s lifelong friends Vince Legudi and Tony Siciliano helped him pull the five-day visit together.
“It was a community effort, we all chipped in, Vince organised the jumper to be signed,” Mr Siciliano said.
“Our parents were friends back in Italy, so we’ve known each other a long time and been with him through everything.
“It’s been very emotional for Mick to have Sam home.”
Mick thanked everyone who helped make Sam’s return home a success.
“Getting that jumper has made Sam’s year, thank you to the club for going along with it and having us here.”
