A life changed, a community’s commitment to help

By Alex Carrier, Special Correspondent
Published: August 21, 2008

Often a community of neighbors, faced with a need, works to fill it.
The greater the need, one could say, the greater the effort to provide sufficient prayers, support, encouragement and funds.
This is what many in Greene County are doing for their neighbor Luke Morris and his family.
On Friday, July 21, the 21-year-old Greene County native came home from work at Virginia Sprinkler, joined his girlfriend Erin and headed for the local swimming hole to find some relief from the sweltering summer heat.  A simple dive into the cooling water and Luke’s life changed instantly.
Realizing something had gone wrong and Luke was in trouble, his friends rushed in to help, holding his head above water so he could breathe while they waited for emergency crews to arrive.  Luke’s father, Jeff Morris, a 15-year volunteer with Stanardsville Volunteer Fire Department, followed the squad to the scene.
“When he saw me he said ‘Dad, I really messed up this time’.  People have been swimming up at Mule Dam for years,” says his father. “He’s been in the water hundreds of times and I have probably been in there thousands.  It was just one of those things”
After a flight with Pegasus Air Ambulance and eight hours of surgery at University of Virginia Hospital, the family heard the grim news.
“Luke destroyed his fifth vertebrae and crushed his spinal cord,” Jeff Morris says, his tired voice edged with concern. “The doctor said he didn’t have much more than a 2% chance of recovery and that Luke would probably be on the ventilator for the rest of his life.”
Luke has something different in mind.  The William Monroe High School graduate, who played baseball, was a defensive/offensive lineman for the Greene Dragons football team and won Lineman of the Year his senior year, began showing the doctors that he is playing to win at this game too.
“After he got out of surgery, the nurse came to take us to his room,” explains Morris. “We went in and Luke was off the ventilator and talking.  The doctor said his chances for recovery had increased to 60%.” 
That recovery will take a lot of work – which Luke is supplying with the help of doctors, nurses, therapists and staff at the Good Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA.  (Good Shepherd is where actor Christopher Reeve rehabilitated after his spinal cord injury.)

While Luke is working hard to recover from his injury; family, friends and the community are working to give him and his family the support, encouragement and tools they will need. 
“The night it happened there were probably 50 people at the emergency room,” says Morris. “The support of the community has been great – the calls, the cards, everything.  Especially the kids.  We are talking young kids -18, 19, 20. They have been amazing.  They even came out to the house and mowed the grass.”
Luke’s friends, many of them William Monroe High School students or graduates, have already started the fundraising effort. A benefit car wash soon after the accident raised almost $1500 toward a medical bill already past half-a-million dollars.
Jeff Morris works for the Virginia Department of Transportation in Greene County but his wife Linda has left work to be with Luke in Atlanta.  His only sibling, younger sister Emily, is a nursing student at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville. 
While insurance is covering much of the medical costs, other expenses are falling to the family. This is where the community is coming together to help.
Lisa Brown is working to coordinate the different efforts. Her son Greg is a close friend of Luke.
“I look at Luke like one of my own children,” she says.  “One of the reasons we are trying to raise money is to help with the current expenses for his mother down in Atlanta.”
Lisa Watson from Virginia Sprinkler tells how the company and Luke’s co-workers have already collected donations, had two raffles and are looking for other ways to help with Luke’s recovery.
While Luke and the doctors do intense therapy in Atlanta, family and friends are working to meet his needs once he is home.
“I have spoken with a friend who is a contractor and it will be less expensive to add an addition to the house than to make the changes necessary to accommodate Luke’s current needs,” explains Morris.  “We are hoping for the best but we have to have something now.  When he is ready to be releases from the hospital, a caseworker will come out to the house to see if we are up to their standards on what he will need.”
“Luke is in good spirits,” says his father.  “He tells them ‘whatever we need to do, let’s do it’ and they work his butt off at the center but they give him hope.  He can move his arms now and has feelings in his legs.”
“I don’t know what the prognosis is,” admits Morris. “It is all statistics but we feel blessed that he is off the ventilator and still here with us.”
Jeff Morris is hoping his son will be home sometime in late October or early November.  Once home, Luke will require months of therapy.  His father remains hopeful though realistic.

“He’s young and he’s a fighter,” says Jeff Morris.
For now Luke Morris is fighting to get as far as his hard work and the doctors’ care can get him while a community fights to give him all the help he will need to win the battle.
Many benefits and fundraiser are planned by the community.  Anyone wanting to make a donation can do so at any local Bank of America branch.  Simply give them a deposit to the Luke Morris Fund.