Francesco Allocca, a Locust Valley HS basketball player, thanks coaches and first responders for his survival, while his mother honors his late father, Paul, who passed away from cancer
A Locust Valley High School basketball player’s near-tragedy has turned into one of Long Island’s most heartwarming Thanksgiving stories.
On November 17, 2025, junior forward Francesco Allocca, who wears #23 for the Falcons’ varsity team (class of 2026), collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest during tryouts, only to be brought back to life by quick-thinking coaches, staff, and first responders in a textbook “chain of survival” that has left the entire community in tears of gratitude.
The 17-year-old son of the late Paul Allocca, who tragically passed away from cancer on April 29, 2023, at age 52, and Pia Scarfo Allocca, was clinically dead for minutes inside the Locust Valley gymnasium until basketball coaches Andrew Siegel, Andrew Bock, Ben Martinez, Brian Lorusso, and Elliot Aramayo performed CPR and deployed an AED that was
Fortunately, mounted right outside the gym doors, within moments, Head Custodian and Locust Valley Fire Department Chief Artie Sandstrom, paramedic Scott Sila, and firefighter/teaching assistant Michael Sabatino arrived to take over, delivering the shocks and advanced care that restarted Francesco’s heart before he was rushed to Glen Cove Hospital and then transferred to Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
Just nine days later, on November 26, a fully alert Francesco and his emotional mother Pia – who serves as NORC Program Director at Vision Urbana, Inc. after earning her degree in Health Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003, returned to Glen Cove Hospital’s Pratt Auditorium for an overwhelmingly tearful reunion with every coach, custodian, firefighter, paramedic, nurse, and doctor who saved her son’s life, with Pia telling the room through tears,
“This is very emotional for us, for our family; we are very grateful for the coaches and staff stepping in when Francesco was having cardiac arrest… It couldn’t be a better Thanksgiving – thank God and thank this community.”
Via cbsnews
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Raised with his brothers Giuseppe and Giovanni in Locust Valley, Paul and Pia Allocca’s son.
Francesco has worn the Falcons’ varsity uniform since his sophomore year, playing both power forward and small forward with the same quiet intensity his late father was known for in the community.
Now, less than two weeks after doctors say he should not be alive, he is already home preparing for a holiday season that carries extra meaning for the Allocca family, while Locust Valley Central School District, spurred by the scare, has ordered seven additional AEDs and pledged to expand CPR and AED training to even more staff members, with Superintendent Dr. Kristen Turnow emphasizing that “a three-minute response time is critical” and strategic AED placement literally saved Francesco’s life.
As doctors at Cohen Children’s Medical Center continue cardiac testing to determine the cause of the sudden arrest in the otherwise healthy teenager, the only certainty for the Allocca family and the entire Locust Valley community share this Thanksgiving is profound gratitude for the everyday heroes who refused to let Paul and Pia Allocca’s middle son become the second devastating loss for their family in less than two years.
