Josh Gomes will never forget the July night he saved his dad’s life. His family was driving home on Route 9 in Natick when he noticed his father Robbie slumping over the wheel. “He started making weird snoring sounds,” Josh said.
Robbie was having a heart attack.
Instead of panicking, Josh, who was sitting in the back seat with his 12-year-old sister, stayed level-headed and lunged into the front seat, grabbing hold of the wheel and reaching down to move his father’s foot from the gas to the brakes. Josh’s mom called 911 as Josh jumped out of the car to wave down some help.
Assonet Teen Saves His Father’s Life
Robbie was laid down on the ground while Josh implemented the CPR knowledge he had recently learned in his health class at Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical High School.
That was a night where protector became the protected and vice versa, at least for a few minutes. Luckily, Robbie has recovered and is doing fine. “I’m back to 100 percent,” he said.
How did Josh maintain his composure with his dad in that state? “I think when you’re in a situation like that you just think what’s the best thing to do,” he said. “What is the best option? I wasn’t really thinking as I was doing everything. It just sort of happened.”
Josh Gomes Honored By the Boston Celtics
When the Boston Celtics heard from his school about Josh’s heroic actions, they wanted to bring him and his entire family in and roll out the green carpet treatment. In addition to being introduced to the TD Garden crowd as a “Hero Among Us,” Josh was invited to walk around courtside during warm ups. Here was a 16-year-old Assonet kid rubbing elbows with names like LeBron James and Donnie Wahlberg. Defensive specialist Derrick White even gave Josh a nod for wearing his No. 9 jersey.
The Green Carpet Treatment
“We started out with a cool tour of the Celtics offices and got to see all of the memorabilia, banners, rings and trophies that built our dynasty,” Robbie said. “The mind-blowing moment happened when Brian Scalabrine recognized Josh from the ceremony earlier and called him over during a commercial break on the halftime report. They briefly talked about the incident and (Scalabrine) gave him an autograph.”
The Gomes family was treated to dinner and drinks on the Celtics, and watched the Celtics blow out the Lakers in premium seating.
Another night to remember, but this time it was for all the right reasons.
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