George Amadeo spent his 18th birthday at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, recovering from a bullet wound.
On a bad day, Amadeo received a brief moment of respite in the form of a phone call.
For a moment, it allowed him to think back to when he was 15 and Ryan Fitzpatrick captured his imagination as the Jets starting quarterback. Now, he was about to speak with him for the first time.
"I'm a huge Jets fan," Amadeo told NJ Advance Media.
Amadeo, a Belford native, was enthralled by Fitzpatrick, the Harvard product who emerged and posted the most statistically productive season for a Jets quarterback in franchise history, leading them to the brink of the playoffs.