Newbury Park Gives Emole a Picture-Perfect Reception

When his Newbury Park High teammates battled for starting positions in February, Matt Emole battled for his life, fighting off pneumonia so severe he had part of a lung removed.

When his teammates struggled to reach .500 during the first half of the season, Matt, 18, struggled to roll over and sit up.

When his teammates gathered for a team photo Monday, Matt was included. He wore his Panther jersey and the team posed on the lawn outside St. John’s Medical Center in Oxnard, Matt’s home since an August automobile accident made him a quadriplegic.

“He’s part of the team and a lot of the guys are close to him,” Coach Curtis Scott said.

Matt’s prognosis is good. Doctors say he can go home in four to five weeks and he plans to enroll at Moorpark College in the fall. He has a full scholarship to USC, but wants to attend Moorpark for at least a semester.

Matt was a three-sport athlete, and fund-raising by the Newbury Park football, basketball and baseball teams helped defray his mounting medical bills.

Others have helped, too. George Saul of Northridge gave Matt a mechanized wheelchair. The Croskery family of Thousand Oaks donated specialized equipment used by their son, John, a quadraplegic who died last year.

Matt felt well enough to go shopping Sunday with his mother, Corrine, and a friend, David Kent. Corrine suggested, half jokingly, that the guys get their ears pierced. They did and Matt wore stud earrings in the team photo.

“It was great that they all came out to see me,” Matt said. “It felt kind of weird, but nice.”