J-Mac discharged from hospital

Berkeley Brean

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) – JMac is out of the hospital. URMC confirms he has been discharged from Strong Hospital.

JMac or Jason McElwain, was seriously hurt in a bicycle crash earlier this month. He just tweeted that he’s going home. Jason was on his way to work as a bus monitor at Greece Schools, when his bike ran into a car. He had several broken ribs and a collapsed lung, and had to have surgery.

The beloved Greece Athena basketball legend went viral in 2006 when he made six three-pointers and scored 20 points during his school’s senior night basketball game.

Because of his helmet, he avoided serious head injuries.

News10NBC spoke to the first person who ran to help him. It happened in one of the busiest areas of the county, near the intersection of Long Pond Road and Latta Road. The Good Samaritan was stopped at a red light and watched the accident happen.

"Jason was coming from over here going this direction," Angela Tantanlo said, pointing east on Latta Road.

Tantalo says she remembers seeing J-Mac riding his bicycle on the sidewalk of Latta Road coming in her direction.

"I seen a car turning and I’m like—wait a second. Where did the person on the bike go?" Tantalo said. "It all happened so fast. The next thing I know I see bike fall, Jason fly a little bit, bang his head on the ground."

Tantalo was the first person to reach him and she says she rested his head on her lap. Her daughter got medical masks from the car to put pressure on the cut to his head. She didn’t recognize who she was helping at first.

"That’s when a woman passed by and said I work with him. That’s J-Mac!" she said.

Brean: "As you were there helping him, what were you thinking?"

Angela Tantalo: "I always know — protect the head. So I’m thinking — what do I need to do right now to help him?"

16 years ago, J-Mac gave us one of the great sports moments in New York history.

On senior night, he went from Greece Athena team manager to hero scoring 20 points in the final four minutes. Monday night his former coach Jim Johnson tweeted, "My man Jason (J-Mac) McElwain was injured in a car accident. Please keep him in your prayers!"

Tantalo says she can’t stop thinking about what she witnessed.

"Thank God he had that helmet on his head because I can’t imagine the outcome if he hadn’t," she said.

Jason has autism and because that can increase anxiety, his mom says the doctors put him in a coma to be able to put a breathing tube in.