August 2022 Story - Lucas Cirivello
This story will pull at any parents hearts. Jennifer, Gary, and Mike got the phone call no parent ever wants to hear….an accident happened and the paramedics are on their way for your child.
Lucas was at a friends birthday party when he was on an obstacle course attached to two trees. As he was making his way across one of the trees came out of the ground and landed on top of Lucas. As he laid there motionless his friends ran to his side and lifted the tree off of Lucas’s face and trunk.
Jennifer rushed to his side and was met with the ambulance. Lucas was rushed to Cincinnati Children’s where he learned he suffered a small brain bleed, fractured C3 and C5 (neck), broken nose, fractures in his face and on his cheek & jaw.
He met with a Neuro surgeon, ENT, Dental, & Plastics. He had to have screws placed in his neck and was in a neck brace for several months. He also had reconstructive surgery to fix his nose.
The night of the accident brought trauma to not only Lucas but to his 5 friends who witnessed their friend almost lose his life. These boys have been the best of friends since the days of playing pee wee football. Football was Lucas’s biggest passion and what he lived for. After a few weeks Lucas was able to return to school. He also returned to the football field but his new role was cheering his team on from the sidelines.
With Lucas’s extensive injury to his neck the doctor fear playing football would be too dangerous and could lead to paralysis if a wrong hit to the neck occured. As devastated as Lucas is he will always be a Wildcat and will continue to support his teammates any way possible.
Thanks to our amazing followers and our fundraiser at Blanchester Skyline we were able to raise over $8,000 for the family. We also surprised all 6 boys with tickets to the Bengals vs Chiefs game! Lucas still has a long road to recovery but it is certain that he has a whole army behind him cheering him along the entire way!
A special thank you to all of our sponsors and individual donors, without you we would not exist. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.