‘Sometimes, you just need support:’ Lubbock foundation helping families after brain injuries

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Nine years after Luke Siegel suffered a traumatic brain injury in a golf cart crash, his father, Tim, continues to keep his legacy alive.

Team Luke Hope For Minds works to support families after brain injuries and to prevent them from happening in the first place.

“Each of the last three years we’ve granted over half a million dollars. We’re in 47 states, now. Last year in our conference, we had over 100 families attend our conference,” Siegel said.

Since his son’s crash, Siegel has been working through the growing foundation to financially and emotionally support families in the same situation.

“But we’re always looking to spread awareness, as well as raising money,” Siegel said. “Because people don’t realize how many brain injuries there are among children. Each and every day we get applications.”

Siegel says the need is great, with 68 families on a waitlist for support. Keila Ketchersid understands, firsthand, what that support can mean to a family in the midst of tragedy.

“Being so early in the stages of what we were going through, it was really comforting to talk to another parent who knew how we were feeling,” she said.

It’s been two years since her daughter, Kallie was seriously injured in a car crash. She suffered a stroke, a broken jaw and a fractured pelvis. In the middle of their 105-day hospital stay at Texas Children’s in Houston, Siegel paid her family a visit.

“You can be bitter sometimes and angry. You can ask why, but to turn it into something positive and to put his heart on the line each day is an amazing thing, and I know he’s helped so many, so many people,” Ketchersid said.

Many in Lubbock know Team Luke Hope For Minds Day is March third each year, or 3/3, because three was Luke’s favorite number. Kallie’s crash also happened on that same day. In the Ketchersid household, it’s now known as “life day,” a celebration that she’s still here and thriving.

Kallie is taking classes at South Plains College, hoping to one day become a child life specialist in a hospital. She made the dean’s list in the fall and was crowned homecoming queen.

“We came home in a wheelchair and now she’s walking around a college campus,” Ketchersid said. “It’s an amazing thing and sometimes you just need support.”

For Brain Injury Awareness Month, Team Luke is asking for donations to send more families to its annual conference.

“This year, we’re going to have more. And so, we’re trying to raise money to make sure that we are able to help every single family come to our conference,” Siegel said.

He says there, families can find the same support the Ketchersid family was given.

To support Team Luke Hope For Minds in another way, here’s a list of restaurants giving a portion of their proceeds to the foundation on certain dates:

• Texas Wedge - month of March
• Chop Chop (all three locations) - every Wednesday in March
• Bubba’s 33 - 3/13
• Parry’s Pizzeria - 3/19
• Walk On’s - 3/21
• Stella’s - 3/23
• Stacked Breakfast and Lunch - 3/23
• Abuelo’s - 3/26
• Picoso’s - month of March (select items)