By: Matthew Lucero ATC, LAT
Growing up in Reading Pennsylvania, Troy loved sports but was unable to play himself because of his life-long battle with seizures. To stay involved, he became the equipment manager for several sports in high school. Troy’s high school did not employ an Athletic Trainer and he was not familiar with what an AT was at the time.
As a child, Troy experienced seizures that left him unable to talk so he could only stare with the inability to control anything. He recalls his arm flexing and extending uncontrollably until the seizing stopped. In the late 1970s, he saw a physician who suggested he might need surgery and started him on medication. Over several years he saw multiple physicians and neurologists and tried numerous medications, but the seizures continued.
He attended Salem State University and worked with the ice hockey team as an undergraduate. During a skate practice, Troy was skating with the team and ended up in an ambulance. Troy experienced his first collapse during a seizure. His seizures were becoming progressively worse.
Troy got his Master’s degree from Temple University and worked at a clinic in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was at that clinic that Troy met Barney Nugent Barney Nugent, who was the Triple A Athletic Trainer for the Phillies. Barney asked Troy to come by the field and after spending only two days with Barney, Troy recognized how different professional baseball was compared to the baseball he experienced in college.
He began his career in professional baseball in 1992 and was assigned to the Martinsville Phillies of the Appalachian League. From 1993 to 2001, he worked his way up the minor league ladder, but found himself back in the Gulf Coast League (GCL) in 2002. He was disappointed by the move but later realized what a blessing it would become.
In the Gulf Coast League, Troy was able to spend more time with his family, which is the most important thing in his life. While his personal life was blooming, Troy’s seizures continued to plague him. He was unable to drive until his symptoms were under control and in the back of his mind he wondered if he would be able to do his job. While in the Gulf Coast League, he continued to undergo testing and adjustment of medications, but doctors could not pinpoint the cause of his seizures.
In 2005 Troy was driving his wife to the airport and he had a seizure that caused a car accident. After this accident, Troy requested another round of testing. It was these tests that revealed an area that his physician felt was the root of his seizures. On Valentine’s Day of 2006, Troy underwent a Left Temporal Lobectomy and has not experienced a seizure since.
Troy has worked for the Phillies organization for 26 years and he is extremely thankful to work for a club that stuck with him through this process.
Troy Lives in Florida with his wife and two daughters (6 y/o and newborn).
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