East Islip’s Chambers is a real-life hero

Chris Chambers still doesn’t think it’s such a big deal. The varsity football player from East Islip High School said he would do it again if the circumstances were the same. Chambers, walking to a friend’s house July 3, was crossing Main Street in East Islip when a car barreled toward his friends.

Without hesitation, Chambers lunged off the curb and shoved Justine Brode out of harm’s way as the car roared toward them.

“It was instinct,” he said. “I realized she was going to get hit and I just thought, ‘oh my God, she’s going to die’,” he said. “I knew she didn’t see the car coming so I shoved her out of the way.”

And it’s the last thing he remembers. Chambers’ body, hit full force by the car, ricocheted up and into the windshield and onto Main Street. He lost consciousness.

“I thought he was dead,” said Brode, who suffered bruises after she hit a sidewalk fire hydrant on the south side of the street. “I was screaming for him.”

It was the kind of hit that not even the toughest of football players could endure. Chambers said he suffered a broken back, contusions to his legs, broken nose, head trauma and a dislocated shoulder that night. He also said he has constant numbness in his left leg. The doctors would not clear him for football this season.

He was taken to South Side Hospital with his mother at his side in the ambulance.

“I got the call and I feared the worst,” Laura Chambers said. “All I could think about was how badly injured he was and if he was going to make it. You don’t know until you get to the scene and you fear the worst. He was conscious in the ambulance and he kept asking me how the girl was. He didn’t know the car missed her. He was so worried about the girl.”

“I’m just glad my son is OK and that’s all I really care about. It bugs him that he couldn’t play football this season but after all of the therapy, he’ll be back next year. He’s an incredibly tough kid.”

“I would do it again,” said the 5-10, 190-pound sophomore. “I wouldn’t even think twice. I see her cheerleading at the varsity games and it makes me happy that’ she’s OK. She’s a little girl and that car would have crushed her.”

“He’s absolutely my hero,” said Justine, a varsity cheerleader. “He saved my life. He put himself in a dangerous situation to make sure I was safe.”

A banged-up Brode brought doughnuts to her hero the following day to thank him.

“It was so thoughtful,” Laura Chambers said. “She’s such a great kid.”

The nightmarish events of July 3 still bother Bill Chambers. He was at Fire Island when the phone call came from the ambulance EMT that his son had been hit by a car. Only one ferry was left to make it back to the mainland and get to the hospital.

“I got the call and the EMT told me that my son had profuse bleeding from the face and head trauma,” said Chambers, who has worked in the auto salvage and scrap metal business for 25 years. “He had severe injuries. I wanted to swim back and get to the hospital.”

Chambers said his son is still in therapy three times a week, three months later, and loses feeling in his left leg.

“It’s something the doctors will figure out,” he said. “I hope Chris is done with therapy in time for the wrestling season. I don’t want him to miss another sport that he loves.”

East Islip football coach Sal J. Ciampi was blown away by the events.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “How many people in that situation would have the courage to throw his or herself in front of a moving car to save someone else’s life? He sacrificed himself for the girl.” Ciampi said Chambers has also thrown himself into whatever it takes to help the team win.

“He never misses a practice and he helps in any way he can,” Ciampi said. “The kid is all about character. Too many people throw the word hero around loosely. This kid is a real hero.”

His parents said they are very proud of their son. His friends all look up to him. He made a friend for life in Brode. His peers have the utmost respect for what he did. And all Chris Chambers wants is to be healthy again — to be whole again.

“I just want to feel good,” he said. “I want to walk without thinking about the numbness. I want to wrestle this fall and play football next year — that’s it.”

Chambers turned to the sideline during a home game against Newfield High School and watched the ninth-grade Brode go through her cheering routines.

“It was worth it,” he smiled. “I’d do it again for her.”