A tragic story turning into a nation-wide movement for the awareness of brain injuries. Now, the Team Luke Foundation took it one step further by partnering with the City of Lubbock to declare July as Golf Cart Safety Awareness Month.
“This is about awareness and education,” Luke’s Dad Tim Siegel said. “You can make a difference. It’s not about me, the mayor creating this campaign, but as a neighbor you can make a difference because in every community they’re out there.”
With Team Luke, Tim said their goal is to save or protect a life with their campaign.
“For the longest time I didn’t want to talk about golf carts, those two words,” Siegel said. “I still have a hard time. I see them every day and it’s a reminder every day, every second of every day I think about it.”
On July 28, 2015, nine year old Luke was riding his friend’s golf cart when it flipped over, causing serious brain injury.
Related Link: Lubbock Community Supports 9-Year-Old Luke Siegel
“The first words we heard was that Luke was in cardiac arrest and the next 44 days we spent at UMC and then four months at Cook’s Children’s,” Siegel said. “One day I’ll never forget in September of that year the neurologist said based on the MRI Luke would never use his voice or use his limbs.”
Still fighting two years later, Siegel said his son rode a horse for the first time since his accident during therapy.
“He is an incredible fighter,” Siegel said. “That work ethic has kept him going, continuing to get better and better every day.”
Now Luke’s story continues to inspire others around the world.
“It’s gut-wrenching but for me this foundation that we’ve started to help other families has really kept me going,” Siegel said. “It’s allowed me to continue to live.”
Siegel urges anyone who sees a child riding a golf cart to talk to them about the safety of the vehicle. He added it takes an entire community to create change.
Mayer Dan Pope and Siegel will be leading the announcement on Friday at 10 a.m. at City Hall.
