Stevenson senior guard Rocco Pagliocca has catapulted back onto the basketball scene with a pair of explosive performances — but the story behind his return is far more dramatic, frightening, and emotionally charged than any box score could ever reveal. After a year marked by mysterious symptoms, traumatic ER visits, and a diagnosis that threatened not just his season but his ability to live normally, the son of Chicago Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca is finally back. But even now, with his comeback grabbing headlines, one message from doctors still looms over everything: there are no guarantees.
Pagliocca’s ordeal began in November 2024, when he underwent surgery after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. The recovery sidelined him for 20 days — but what followed was far more harrowing. Throughout the summer, Rocco found himself in medical crisis after crisis. His heart rate would spike to 165 beats per minute while he was simply sitting upright in bed. In August, physicians finally identified the culprit: dysautonomia, a disorder of the nervous system that disrupts the body’s automatic functions and has no known cure.
The diagnosis sent him spiraling into months of physical and mental struggle. “There were many times when I was scared I would never feel like myself again,” he said. “Not just basketball-wise — even basic things like going to school felt impossible.”
By late spring, Pagliocca’s symptoms had intensified. Brain fog. Fatigue so severe he could barely get out of bed. Vision problems. Panic-inducing heart spikes. He skipped the AAU circuit entirely and, despite flashes of brilliance in June — including a 38-point outburst — he kept finding himself collapsing onto the bench, unable to continue. Multiple hospital trips followed. July, a critical scouting month, became impossible.
“It wasn’t intelligent to keep playing,” his father Jeff said. “It wasn’t about basketball anymore. It was about living a regular life as an 18-year-old.”
Physical therapy soon became his full-time job. Twice a day. Strict limits on physical exertion. No school for more than two months. Even his coach admitted: “It didn’t seem like it was a fun way to live.”
But in late October, something shifted. Pagliocca began taking small steps back toward normalcy — attending classes, managing symptoms, and slowly stabilizing. Still, the outlook was bleak. Doctors told him repeatedly that the chances of him playing this season were “slim to none.” Even so, when he was finally cleared, both he and his family trusted the medical green light.
And then the miracle began.
Despite not touching a basketball since June, Rocco exploded onto the court in Stevenson’s season opener, dropping 21 points. The next day, he poured in 24 points and eight rebounds, earning a spot on the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team after just two games.
“This has given me a totally different level of motivation,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to destroy anyone I play against.”
His momentum hit a brief scare when he rolled his ankle after hitting a late-game 3-pointer, sending him back to the ER — but the X-rays were clean. He sat out one game and is already gearing up for Stevenson’s North Suburban Conference opener.
Now, the senior guard stands on the brink of a milestone season. With a strong year, he could become just the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. But his perspective has changed forever.
“Even at my lowest, I knew it was temporary,” Pagliocca said. “I knew I’d come out a better player — and a more complete person.”
His comeback is already one of the most remarkable stories of the year.
But with a condition that has no cure and no certainty, the biggest question remains:
How long can this miraculous run last?
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