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Team Luke: A Father's Mission After Tragedy · Tigs Bits Podcast

0:08
Welcome to Tigs Bits we have. An inspiring story of resilience
0:14
and. Hope our guests.
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Are Tim Siegel, founder of Team Luke, Hope for Minds, and Tony
0:19
Menace, the man helping tell this story through an incredible
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new documentary? So we're going to dive into
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Luke's journey, the impact of Team Luke, and how you can help.
0:32
This one's special, so let's get into it.
0:36
Gentlemen, welcome to. Tigs bits, I'm so, so happy to
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have you all here with me today. How are you doing?
0:43
Great. Doing well.
0:43
Thank you so much for. Having us, I had.
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The pleasure of being able to view this wonderful documentary.
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Tony had sent it to me as they've been working on it.
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And I'm so, so excited to to see it to for everybody else to get
0:58
to see it out there as well, just to get started with this.
1:02
Either one of you, when does the documentary come out?
1:05
Number one, where can it be seen?
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We'll just want to get. That off right?
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Before we dive into it because I have a tendency to sometimes.
1:12
Forget to get that out. Well, I'll go ahead and answer
1:16
that. So on YouTube, it'll come out on
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Monday, March 3rd. So my son's favorite number is
1:22
3. And in Lubbock, TX where I lived
1:25
for 30 years, it was March 3rd was Team Luke day.
1:30
And we always ask people to wear a Team Luke shirt or a hat or
1:33
their bracelet and, and promote it that way.
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And so March is Brain injury awareness month.
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And so it kind of fits perfectly that this is when we're going to
1:43
air for our, for our national audience.
1:45
Well. For those that are unfamiliar.
1:48
What is? Team Luke hope for mines.
1:50
Let's just start. There how did this all?
1:52
Begin. I was a tennis coach at Texas
1:55
Tech for 23 years. I grew up in New Orleans and and
1:59
and took over at Texas Tech. In 1993.
2:01
I resigned to spend more time with my family.
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At the time I had a 23 year old daughter, 12 year old daughter,
2:07
10 year old daughter and nine year old son.
2:10
And I made the decision to become the middle school and
2:13
high school coach until my son would have graduated from high
2:17
school. And 20 days after I resigned on
2:20
July 28th, 2015, my son was at a friend's house and they were on
2:27
a golf cart unsupervised and the golf cart landed on top of
2:31
Luke's chest and he suffered head and chest trauma, was in
2:34
cardiac arrest for 7 minutes. We spent one month in Lubbock in
2:38
the hospital, four months at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort
2:41
Worth. We were told Luke would never
2:44
use his limbs, use his voice to open his eyes, Eventually did
2:47
all three of those things. I became Luke's primary
2:50
caregiver where I basically was by his side 24 hours a day for
2:55
the next six years taking care of Luke, you know, taking him to
2:59
therapies, changing and turning and driving to Fort Worth for
3:03
therapies. So I was, I have three daughters
3:06
and and grandchildren, but I really felt in my heart of
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hearts that Luke was going to change the world, that he was
3:12
going to speak, he was going to do things that we were told he
3:15
would never do. Right.
3:17
And on July 28th of 15 is when the accident was, well, middle
3:23
of August 2021, six years later, Luke had gotten COVID.
3:29
And we knew that COVID was always out there.
3:32
But I just felt that, you know, we've been through too much,
3:35
that we're not going to, we're not, we're going to be OK.
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And on August 18th, I took Luke to the ER.
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I came home that night. My wife, my wife stayed with him
3:45
and I got a knock on my door at 4:00 in the morning.
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The next morning I get to ICU and on my way to the hospital, I
3:52
heard a voice. You're going to be OK, but
3:54
Luke's not going to make it. And I thought that until I got
3:57
to the hospital and the first person to greet me was the
3:59
doctor. And she said, I don't know if
4:01
your son's going to make it. And I said, I know.
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Well, Luke passed away on August 19th, 2021.
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And I'm doing all that I can each and every day to keep
4:12
Luke's legacy alive. And the number one way I've done
4:15
that is going back in time. January of 2018, we started the
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Team Luke, Hope for Mines nonprofit.
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I had merged Team Luke with a nonprofit called Hope for Mines
4:28
out of Austin. And in January of 18, we began
4:32
the nonprofit where we support children after brain injury.
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And each of the last four years we have granted over half
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$1,000,000 to families all over the country.
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And, and I know that I have a mission, a purpose, a calling to
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to help families. I talked to a parent nearly
4:49
every single day. And I met up with Tony who had
4:53
done a documentary for us earlier.
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And I think we talked about this maybe in September and said,
5:00
listen, we are having our annual conference in October and why
5:05
don't we try to have this documentary?
5:07
We filmed families and that's how it all began for this
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documentary and I think people will see this documentary is
5:16
powerful. It it you teach you learn a lot
5:19
about team that go for minds. You learn about my son.
5:22
You learn about the celebrities that have been involved with us.
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So I'm just blessed to have gotten to to spend more time
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with Tony, who I grew up with playing tennis in the juniors in
5:32
Louisiana. So I'm hoping that everyone will
5:34
will feel the same way I feel about it.
5:36
Tony, how did you guys? Meet.
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Tell us a little. Bit about your background.
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As well, because it is, it's a very.
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Distinguished background as well.
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I grew up here in Baton Rouge, LA, and Tim grew up in New
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Orleans, and he's a year older. But Tim was a phenomenal tennis
5:52
player and he was always the top player in the state, one of the
5:55
top players in the nation. And so I grew up always watching
5:59
him and admiring him and stuff. And so we went all the way
6:03
through juniors. He played at the University of
6:05
Arkansas and I played at the University of Louisiana
6:08
Lafayette. And then I became the head
6:12
women's tennis coach at LSU. And I coached her for 21 years.
6:17
And so we've known each other since I was, you know, 19 years
6:20
old. But shortly after I ended up
6:24
coaching, I was approached about potentially hosting ATV show and
6:30
I hosted ATV show on the Tennis Channel called inside college
6:34
tennis with Tony Menace and then shortly after currently hosts a
6:39
show called College sports weekly.
6:42
Things were going great and then I had an issue.
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My mother got cancer and I ended up kind of being her caretaker
6:50
for about a year and a half. And like right after that COVID
6:54
hit and, and it was so within a, you know, three-year period is
7:00
pretty tough, but I've got a group of people really
7:02
supporting me and I'm trying to start my own production company
7:05
called Menace productions. I've been working towards that.
7:08
And so we've done, you know, various shows around the
7:11
country, but we're just kind of ramping up again.
7:14
And, and would better than doing a, a just such a powerful story,
7:21
not only about Tim and Luke, but just all the families I saw all
7:27
the different people I interviewed, the doctors, the
7:30
supporters. I mean, there were so many
7:32
people involved in this. And so, you know, from my
7:35
standpoint, you know, walk away looking at this and I see, I
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mean, I get it, you know, monies for athletic facilities and
7:45
things like that. But this needs support, this
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needs to grow, this needs dollars behind it.
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And, and so, you know, I was just very happy to do everything
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I could to just, and everything I can still do to try to help
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push this nonprofit along because you've got a group of
8:02
selfless people that are, you know, working hard and helping
8:08
people in need. And let me just say this, God,
8:12
the the families, you can sense the isolation of kind of not
8:18
knowing, OK, where do I go? What I do?
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And having a voice like Tim, who's, you know, not only
8:25
supported the been through it is, is is a very, very important
8:29
thing. No doubt there's no.
8:30
Doubt about it at all. Tim, I kind of kind of move.
8:34
Into those early days. And and the mission of of Team
8:38
Luke. After Luke's accident, what?
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What kept you going in that and those initial months, man?
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Because I know. That, that, that, that, that.
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Couldn't couldn't be easy, but. What was?
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That driving you to keep going. I felt like I was coach and dad,
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you know, I was a tennis coach and I'd play professionally.
8:59
And so the, the coach in me took over, but the dad in me as well.
9:03
There's nothing I love more than being a father.
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And I'm blessed to have three beautiful daughters.
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And, but I, I just, I just knew that that I was going to be able
9:12
to take Luke farther than any nurse, any therapist, or I
9:16
should say at least as well. And, and so I talked to Luke.
9:21
I was with Luke and, you know, we're big Saints fans.
9:25
And I would talk to Luke about Drew Brees and I would talk to
9:27
Luke about the Saints. And I just knew he understood.
9:30
And it was about a a few months after, maybe a good year, after
9:35
the Saints were getting ready to play the Broncos.
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I'll never forget this. And we were in our living room
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and I said, Luke, move your tongue if you think we're going
9:42
to win. And he began to move his tongue.
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And from that point on, I knew, OK, Luke was in there.
9:47
And, and, and it, it, it grew from that to Luke, can I hear
9:53
your voice? Luke?
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I love you. And he would come back with he
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was, he was there. He was speaking.
10:00
And, and so those first few months, my son was a baseball
10:04
player, he was an athlete. He was a hard worker.
10:07
He loved to practice. But my son was a fighter.
10:12
And I never grieved the accident per SE, because I was so focused
10:17
on trying my best to be the best husband, the best father to my
10:22
three daughters, and to focus my attention on Luke.
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And, and so where I really fell down a notch or two or many more
10:31
was when Luke passed. I, I think my wife at the time
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saw his accident as more devastating in his passing
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because she was so concerned about his quality of life.
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It took me a long time to get over and I shouldn't say get
10:46
over, but to get to a point where I am today, I have, I do a
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lot of public speaking all over the country.
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I've spoken to tennis teams and, and teams in general, college
10:57
teams, businesses, schools. And I have what's called 7
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inspirations from Luke. Number one is to find your
11:02
passion #2 is to lean on friends and family #2 is to don't ever
11:09
quit #3 is to lean on friends and family. 4 is to make good
11:13
choices, be careful. 5 is to have faith, 6 is to find
11:17
forgiveness and seven is to let a loved one's legacy live on
11:21
through you. And and I tell you two of those
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have really helped me along my faith and finally forgiving.
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Once I was able to forgive the family, it really changed my
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life. And that happened on August 3rd
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of 2023, which ironically enough is the number 3 is such a
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special number in our life because that's Luke's favorite
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number. The football coach at Texas Tech
11:43
doesn't give out that number anymore.
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Coast the hardest worker and the greatest fighter in honor my
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son, you know, but I'm so blessed to have so much support
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in Lubbock. Now I live in Dallas.
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I'm continuing each and every day to talk to parents, to plan
11:58
for the next event, to raise money and raise awareness
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because it is absolutely amazing the amount of families that need
12:07
our help. It's heart warming, but it's
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also heartbreaking to know that, you know, every few seconds
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there's a child with a brain injury and we see a lot of
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nonfatal drownings, car accidents, actions like my son,
12:20
actions at home. And I'm just now blessed to be
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able to, to give hope because really that's the keyword to
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give hope to families because I've been there, obviously.
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Tony, you had kind of mentioned whenever you were talking about
12:31
interviewing. Folks for for the the.
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Documentary and and I mean that that how.
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Difficult that that could be. Did you find kind of find a
12:39
common theme in all? Of those stories.
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Hope I mean I, I, I consistently heard that over and over and
12:48
over again. The thing that was interesting,
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whether it was a drowning or car accident or I think there were a
12:57
couple families that in childbirth, you know, sustained
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brain injuries, the consistency, you could hear them as they're
13:06
describing it, they're just kind of in the wilderness, not really
13:11
sure of what's going to happen here or what to do.
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And it was very, you know, Tim, before I went there, he kept
13:19
telling me, you know, this is going to be powerful.
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And, and, and as you sit there and you know, you see people
13:25
that it really kind of made me even more aware of you just
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never know what somebody's going through because, you know, you
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see these families come in and hey, how you doing?
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Nice smile. And then they sit down and they
13:39
just start telling you this story and just the emotions and
13:44
everything that that they're going through, they're pouring
13:46
it out and just telling you. And, and what I saw with each
13:50
family, I could tell and they're just talking to me is very
13:54
therapeutic, you know, to to really have the opportunity to
13:58
kind of talk about what they've been through, you know, very
14:01
traumatic and stuff. So I would clearly say without
14:04
question, Hope was the one thing that this nonprofit that Tim and
14:12
Rhonda Johnson are running is at the forefront of everything
14:16
they're, you know, they're looking at.
14:18
And so that was pretty consistent across the board.
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I know that that feeling of hopelessness has to be there at
14:24
some point, and it doesn't seem as if there is enough awareness
14:28
out there. Or a pathway of.
14:30
When? Something tragic like this
14:32
occurs. What do you?
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Do What are the next steps? Who can we get in contact with?
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How can we help my child? And it seems to be.
14:42
What is exactly? What is?
14:43
Happening with you guys and you're being able to help folks
14:46
and help families. That was kind of my take away of
14:49
watching the documentary and and kind of what that.
14:52
What they they felt as they. You nailed it there, Tony.
14:56
They had hope. They had hope.
14:58
That it wasn't just going to be a dark day anymore, you know?
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One thing I will tell you is that everybody, including
15:05
myself, we we always we heard the same things, whether it's
15:08
from the neurologist, neurosurgeon, a grim report.
15:12
The diagnosis was not positive. You know, when you have an
15:15
anoxic brain injury where loop, you know, lost oxygen, you know,
15:19
we were asked should we continue?
15:21
And, and so many families I've talked to the doctors just give
15:27
such a, a, a grim report. But I think that no one really
15:34
understands what the brain can do.
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And even the best neurologist, neurosurgeons really don't know
15:39
because once you leave the hospital, you're now doing
15:42
therapies. You are.
15:45
And I always encourage the parents to, to be there to get
15:48
your child upright, to move, not to be in a wheelchair only or
15:53
laying in bed. And, and that's what we did.
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We were up and at them and doing a lot.
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And so I encourage parents to make sure that that happens for
16:01
their child. And I have seen stories first
16:04
hand where their child hasn't made dramatic improvements.
16:09
The brain certainly can rewire and improve.
16:12
Now in Luke's case, it was small to some, it was large to me.
16:18
He made significant improvements.
16:20
And the one thing I will tell you is that Luke's biggest
16:23
progress came in year 6, which is very unlikely from what
16:29
doctors will tell you. And so that's, that's the
16:32
encouragement that I tried to give to parents.
16:34
I never tell a parent what therapies they should do or what
16:37
they should expect. I just give them what we went
16:40
through, right. And in that case, that's
16:43
encouraging enough because Luke's brain was globally
16:46
damaged and yet he made significant progress.
16:50
He was able to respond in a way. And that's, but which is still
16:54
so incredibly challenging for me because, you know, I'm sitting
16:58
in my apartment where I spend all day working on different
17:01
events and working on talking to parents.
17:04
And I look up and I see a picture of my son.
17:06
And, and, but I'll tell you that sadness is a lot easier to deal
17:11
with than anger and bitterness. And once I relieve myself of
17:15
that, I was able to really move forward and not only help other
17:19
families even better, but help myself.
17:21
Let's. Talk a little bit about.
17:23
Resilience. You just mentioned that faith,
17:26
family and resilience. Obviously, faith is a big part
17:30
of your life. How?
17:32
How has your faith helped you? You kind of touched on it a
17:36
little. Bit, but more specifically, how
17:38
has your faith helped you to get through?
17:41
All of this and to get through his injury and and to where
17:44
you're at now. I had someone recently asked me
17:47
how in the world can I have faith-based on what happened to
17:50
me and my answer is real simple. I couldn't survive without it.
17:55
Certainly my faith has been tested from day one on July
17:59
28th, 2015. But I, I would tell you that my
18:04
faith is stronger than it's ever been.
18:06
I, I do think this and, and I mentioned this to Tony not too
18:10
long ago that someone said to me what would have happened if Luke
18:16
had passed the first night or day 8 when the doctors told us
18:20
he was going to pass. Well, there would be no team to
18:24
cover mines. We would not be helping families
18:26
each and every day. I do believe God kept Luke alive
18:30
and now is using me with this ministry to help families every
18:34
single day. It is, I don't know the words,
18:39
if I have the correct word to, to, to know that when I am put
18:43
in a position to talk to a parent and they're emotional and
18:46
they're in tears, but they're so thankful and grateful that I
18:50
have taken the time to talk to them despite what has happened
18:53
to me, you know, and I know that's a God thing.
18:56
And I know that I feel the strength each and every day
19:00
because trust me, I have touched tough days.
19:04
I lost my son. My son would be 18 years old.
19:08
He would be a freshman, I'm sure, at the University of
19:11
Arkansas, where I went to school, or Texas Tech where I
19:13
coached. But I do know that Luke is in my
19:17
heart every day. I knew that Luke was going to
19:20
speak. I just knew it.
19:22
But I can tell you now that he is speaking, he's just speaking
19:24
through me. And so my my faith is stronger
19:28
than it's ever been. And and I always talk about my
19:31
faith to families when I'm sharing our story.
19:35
And that's powerful, powerful stuff.
19:37
And what a testimony. Do you speak at at different?
19:40
Churches and things like that. Too.
19:42
Yes, I've spoken to churches, I've spoken to FC as at schools,
19:47
middle school and high school and and and colleges.
19:49
I've just spoken to 7 college tennis teams over the last maybe
19:53
six weeks. And those seven inspirations is
19:57
the core of what I talked about. And I certainly discuss all
20:00
seven at length, 5 and 6 being. The most important to me and and
20:05
you know, even when I talk to teams, I talk about don't ever
20:07
quit. We all have moments of can I
20:10
just keep going and and I believe that I kept Luke going
20:16
those years, but Luke continues now to keep me going.
20:19
Tony, was there any point and when you were filming these
20:22
interviews and and doing this documentary that there was
20:26
something that just changed your view?
20:28
Of life, I think. The, the thing that, that stands
20:31
out to me is you can tell the families, it's, it's constantly
20:36
on your mind. I mean, and, and think of this
20:39
too, what's important for, for example, going back to my mother
20:45
with cancer, how traumatic that was.
20:48
But luckily we were in a position through insurance and
20:51
just through where we didn't have to worry about resources.
20:54
I can't imagine going through those type of situations and
20:59
you're having to worry about, you know, all the things that
21:02
you need to help your kid and then you're worrying about money
21:05
as well. And that's why what they're
21:07
doing is so important because, you know, it's tough enough.
21:11
Like even if you have all the money in the world, it's still
21:14
tough, but, you know, having to worry about those things.
21:17
And so one of the census that I got at the beginning, at the
21:22
very end of the conference, they did this little dance for like
21:27
all the kids and stuff. And you could just feel the
21:31
relief and joy that those kids because in that moment,
21:36
everybody's just having fun and nobody's thinking about the
21:39
injuries and things like that. And, and out you sit there and
21:42
you wonder how often do they get those moments?
21:45
Because you know, how often do you are you able to kind of
21:48
forget? Because I'm a, it's always in
21:51
the back of your mind. And so I think from my
21:54
standpoint, you know, interviewing, because as I'm
21:57
interviewing, I'm, I'm observing and I'm watching and I'm, you
22:01
know, just kind of looking at different parents and, and you
22:04
could just see in their eyes just the, you know, just the
22:07
different things that each family's going through.
22:12
And so it was for me just very powerful across the board.
22:17
And I just, you know, walked away thinking, you know, what
22:21
can I do to help and, and, and, and by helping creating more
22:26
awareness because I, I just don't think people know how
22:32
prevalent this is and how often it happens.
22:36
And let me let me add to this, if you don't mind.
22:38
You know, so many parents, including what I went through to
22:45
talk about the exact same thing. And that is that most of the
22:50
therapies that that we look into are not covered by insurance.
22:54
And so we provide team look up for mines, provides financial
22:57
support for families, we provide education.
23:01
We have support groups online, we have sibling support groups.
23:04
Because my know that I know this, that my daughters, they
23:08
were never asked how they were doing.
23:10
They were only asked how Luke was doing.
23:12
And so we do things for the siblings, which we did at the
23:15
conference, in which we continue to do.
23:17
And so I feel like the education and the conference, you know,
23:21
there are other nonprofits in the country that do what we do
23:23
in a much smaller scale financially.
23:26
But nobody has a conference. And we had 160 families attend
23:30
our conference, and we paid for half of those families to
23:33
attend. It is the most powerful, most
23:37
important thing that we do all year.
23:40
But I also keep in touch with those families on a daily basis
23:44
because, as Tony said, it's 24 hours a day because they're not
23:48
only taking care of their child with a brain injury, but they
23:50
have other children as well and spouses.
23:53
And so I understand what that's like.
23:55
And for me, as devastating as this, as this is to say, it cost
24:01
a marriage. In my case, I was married for 22
24:04
years. We got divorced a year and a
24:06
half ago because it was just so much for us to deal with.
24:11
And that's that breaks my heart because I lost Luke and then I
24:14
lost my wife as well. And so I always encourage
24:18
parents when I had my dad support group for the dads to be
24:21
as involved as possible and to reach out to their wives
24:24
consistently because they're the ones generally that are taking
24:27
care of their child the most. You know, Bradley, they kind of
24:30
piggyback on that. So the second show that I did on
24:34
this topic, we met with like a psychologist and, and she said
24:41
that the divorce rate for families in these situations are
24:46
like 80%. You know how often that happens
24:50
because, you know, it's just so much.
24:52
I mean, that's so much to, to deal with.
24:55
And so there's a lot to it that again, I've learned so much over
25:00
the past few years and, you know, doing 3 shows on this, on
25:05
this in a particular nonprofit. But each time I, I, you know,
25:10
research and listen, I learned something else.
25:13
And, you know, you just walk away going and, and, and, you
25:17
know, I don't that one thing that Doctor Phil said in the
25:22
interview, he, he, it's like this needs to get a lot bigger.
25:25
This needs to grow. You mentioned Doctor Phil.
25:28
Let's jump on that, man. How did Doctor Phil get
25:31
involved? With all of this.
25:33
You know, Doctor Phil lives here in Dallas and he's a big tennis
25:35
player. He's got a tennis court in his
25:37
backyard. And I have a good friend who
25:39
plays tennis with him a lot. And so I visited with him in May
25:42
and then again maybe in October. And then early December I just
25:47
went to his house and I said, would you be willing to be in
25:50
our documentary? And he said, I'll do whatever
25:52
you want me to do. He says you can just get Tony to
25:54
fly in the next day. I'll do an entire segment.
25:57
And you know, it was, it was just incredible because I had
26:01
shared with him some of the statistics and some of the
26:04
information both in person and by text.
26:08
And the interview with Tony, it's as if he had it right in
26:12
front of him. What was it was he like?
26:14
Is he a personable fella? Means he's just a normal.
26:17
Dude, just like us. I would, I would.
26:18
Think he seems to be. Except he's a little bit a lot.
26:21
Richer and a lot more famous. Yeah, he was.
26:24
It was funny. He no, just, you know, Tim Talk.
26:27
He's a big tennis player. I told him the irony of it was
26:31
his new guy that his name escapes me right now, but his
26:36
right hand man was the ran the Tennis Channel for 20 some
26:42
years. And so when I got there and I
26:45
met him, I said, wait, did you run the Tennis Channel?
26:48
I had ATV show on it and he remembered the show and
26:50
everything. And so, you know, the Doctor
26:53
Phil actually, you know, loves to play tennis for me.
26:57
He says he exact Clay Courtney plays every day.
27:00
And I actually, on a lighter note, I had a buddy of mine tell
27:04
me, could I ask the Doctor Phil to give me free therapy after
27:09
coaching girls for 21 years? But.
27:12
You probably need it good. Lord, I don't know how.
27:17
You did that, you the stuff that y'all.
27:21
Have seen my goodness. Gracious y'all have to have.
27:25
The the most patient patients of any men that.
27:29
I've that we've ever talked. To on this.
27:30
Show for sure to have. Coached at that long and.
27:34
Just you got to have. Some kind of patience to deal
27:38
with all of that, no doubt. No doubt.
27:41
Well, we talked about some celebrities, man of.
27:43
Course, we've been talking about Doctor Phil.
27:46
We we touched. On on Drew Brees with that
27:50
amazing video that that he sent to Luke.
27:53
And of course you can see that in the documentary.
27:55
It is it is in there. Tell us a little bit more about
27:58
some of the other celebrities that are involved in this, some
28:02
of the other big names. Well, before I, before we go on
28:06
to some of the other ones, you know, Drew Brees was Luke's hero
28:10
and I reached out to the Saints shortly after and, and we, we,
28:15
Luke and I made a deal we're going to go to every, every year
28:17
we go see the Saints play And we made it just three of those
28:19
games. And then the accident happened.
28:21
But then I took Luke to, to watch the Saints probably 7
28:25
times the next 5-6 years. And Drew got Luke a game ball of
28:30
one game. He threw a pass to Luke's friend
28:34
who gave it to Luke. He came to Lubbock to do an
28:37
event for us. I keep in touch with Drew
28:40
regularly. I saw him at a Saints game in
28:42
October. He absolutely deserves the title
28:46
hero. He's been incredible.
28:49
Patrick Mahomes was the quarterback of Texas Tech and
28:52
Luke and I used to watch him play.
28:54
And then, you know, we keep in touch and, and he dedicated a
28:59
park in Kansas City because of Luke.
29:02
He started his 15 and the Mahomes Foundation because of
29:06
Luke. And and he has never played a
29:09
game for the Chiefs without wearing on his right wrist.
29:12
The team look up for mines black and green bracelet, which is
29:16
very special for sure. And and then the tennis world,
29:20
you know, we've had Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, John Isner
29:25
of all come to do events for us. And then Nadal, Federer and
29:30
Djokovic all sent Luke videos when Luke was with us.
29:34
So the tennis world continues to be very supportive and which is
29:38
just so special. And, you know, Luke's favorite
29:41
musician, you know, I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan.
29:43
And I remember, I remember moving Luke, move your tongue if
29:46
you want to listen to Bruce Springsteen.
29:48
He didn't move his tongue, but move your tongue if you want to
29:51
listen to Ed Sheeran. And he moved his tongue and he
29:53
loved Ed Sheeran. And so we went backstage to see
29:57
Ed Sheeran. And as the concert starts, he's
30:01
wearing Luke's Team Luke bracelets.
30:03
So, you know, there's been a lot of a lot of important people.
30:07
The the sports world has been tremendous.
30:10
I mentioned Texas Tech doesn't give out number three to me,
30:13
that's the most incredible thing there is to have a football
30:17
coach do that And the the athletes that wear that number
30:21
three know that they have earned the right to wear it and that
30:25
that is just fantastic. So, you know, I I the sports
30:29
sports to me is really kept me going.
30:30
I'm a huge sports fan and follow every sport religiously and and
30:35
I'm just so blessed to be able to to have friends with that
30:39
kind of stature from Andre Agassi degree to Patrick
30:43
Mahomes. It's really neat, man.
30:45
It's really neat and it's so, so amazing.
30:48
It shows their character which. You know.
30:50
As just a a sports. Fan myself my whole life
30:54
watching them on the. Other side of the thing.
30:56
The screen and seeing them always kind of hoping, you know.
31:00
There's always that that. That notion of don't meet.
31:03
Your heroes. Kind of thing.
31:05
It sounds like you want to meet all.
31:06
Of these guys, these guys are the real deal.
31:08
What you see is what you get. There there ain't anything fake
31:12
about them and that's good to know, you know, I mean, that's
31:15
something that's something to admire and that's something for
31:18
this younger generation, which man, I sound like I'm old now,
31:21
but it's it's it's good for them to be able to have role.
31:25
Models like that to follow. You know, in a in a world where
31:29
role models are getting slimmer and slimmer, there are still
31:33
some really good ones out there. I will, I will say this that
31:37
that Mahomes and Breeze, you could not find 2 better, more
31:41
compassionate, amazing people. And there's one more I want to
31:44
add. And you know, because we're such
31:46
Saints fans, we were on the field before a game one year and
31:52
the entire team left the field. I thought, until I look to my
31:56
right and Demario Davis, linebacker for the Saints, is
31:59
praying over Luke. And Oh my gosh, I wish I had
32:02
that picture. The the person next to me was
32:06
the photographer for the paper. And he took that picture and
32:10
Demario came to Lubbock to do an event.
32:12
So, you know, just the Saints organization.
32:15
I live and die with every victory, every lost.
32:19
But after Luke's accident, I'm that much more involved with the
32:23
organization because of what they've meant to me and to my
32:25
family. That's great.
32:27
That's great. And I.
32:28
Well, I've got to ask you, what are your?
32:30
Thoughts on the the direction that we're moving in now, the
32:34
new coach and all of that you got.
32:35
I mean, we we got a hit on that. We're talking about The Who Dat
32:38
Nation, baby. Absolutely.
32:40
Well, I, I will say that, you know, Tony and I talk Saints all
32:43
the time and you know, my, my feeling and, and by the way, my
32:46
daughter Kate, who's 22, just graduated from Texas Tech.
32:49
He's the biggest things fan in the world and just love Taysom
32:52
Hill just like you can't imagine.
32:55
But, but, but I think that I think this might be the year we
32:59
need to, to really get younger. And, and, and if that means, you
33:03
know, whether you call the word rebuild, we've got to get
33:06
younger. We've got to, to get the salary
33:08
cap under. We got to figure out who stays,
33:11
who goes, you know, we'll see how the, the coaching staff.
33:15
Obviously Kellen Moore knows what he's doing offensively.
33:18
But I think it's, it, you can be the greatest coach in the world,
33:20
but you've got to have the right players and the right, you know,
33:24
salary cap issues I think are #1 So I think this is, this is
33:28
going to be a, a, maybe a tougher year, but I just want to
33:31
see us get young and, and, and trim some of this fat.
33:35
But, you know, I don't care if we're 3 and 14 or 14 and three.
33:40
I'm the biggest fan you've ever met.
33:42
And I, I just, I went to the Super Bowl.
33:45
I, I just, you know, I, I, I took Luke to all those games
33:49
And, and, you know, I just love this team so much.
33:52
I know a lot of the, I've met Jeff Ireland, our assistant GM,
33:55
I've met Jay Romik who's so involved with the Saints on so
33:58
many different levels. I, I just have such an affinity
34:02
for, for the organization and what they stand for.
34:04
So I'm hoping and praying that we turn things around pretty
34:07
quickly. Let's talk a little bit about
34:09
the future of. Team Luke Cope for mines what is
34:13
next? You know, we have multiple
34:16
events every year, April 4th and at the Texas Tech Basketball
34:19
Arena, the United Supermarkets Arena, we have Diamond Rio
34:22
coming to perform. We have an event in April at the
34:27
in Austin for a golf tournament. John Calipari spoke last year at
34:32
our event in Arkansas. We'll do another one of those.
34:35
I've got third party events throughout the country.
34:37
I think really what's next is we want to be able to help every
34:41
single family that needs our help financially, through
34:45
education, through support, whatever it is.
34:47
And so one thing that is certain and that is that every year we
34:52
will have more families needing our help more than the year
34:55
before because of social media, because of word of mouth,
34:59
because of therapies. A lot of families look into
35:02
hydrobaric, oxygen, stem cell and laser therapy, to name a
35:05
few. And so those entities, those
35:08
therapies will reach out to us and say, hey, you know, it's not
35:12
covered by insurance, but reach out to Team Luke.
35:14
So, you know, every single year we know we have to raise a
35:18
million and a half at least every single year.
35:21
And that's going to continue to get bigger and bigger.
35:23
But I have an amazing staff. I'm I'm the executive director,
35:26
but but Rhonda Johnston is really the boss and she's
35:30
fantastic. And then we have a consultant, a
35:32
grant writer, a director of OPS, communications person,
35:37
fundraising person, event person.
35:39
We got a tremendous staff with earned interns as well.
35:42
And I'm just, I'm just really lucky to be around such
35:46
incredible people that want to show their passion each and
35:49
every day to help families because so many families need
35:52
our help. Yes, for sure, for sure.
35:54
How? Can How can more people get
35:57
involved? Team Luke Hope for minds.org is
36:01
our website and you can go to YouTube and to to watch.
36:05
It's called Hope beyond the diagnosis.
36:08
The Team Luke Hope for Minds documentary.
36:12
People can also go to Team Luke Hope for Minds on social media.
36:16
And then I have a very special page, it's called Luke's Legacy.
36:20
Pray for Luke Siegel on Facebook that I share a lot of things,
36:24
upcoming events, stories about Luke, things that happened to me
36:27
continue to happen to me each and every day.
36:30
I'll tell you this guys, it's God.
36:33
Things happen to me every day. They really do.
36:35
And to think that I can be around somewhere in Dallas or
36:40
wherever and someone comes up to me and says, hey, you're Luke's
36:43
dad. I've been praying for you.
36:44
I've been following your story on social media.
36:47
Keep writing on on there and I have two books that I've
36:50
written, one called It's in God's hands.
36:53
The second book is called Fight Like Luke, transforming grief
36:57
into love, strength and faith. And somehow some way, if I have,
37:01
if I get a wild hair out, I'll consider routing 1/3 and final
37:05
chapter. And this book, I think will be
37:07
about how I've healed. And I'm certainly in a much
37:09
better place to be able to write about that.
37:11
And and that is likely to happen sometime this year.
37:15
Excellent, excellent. I look forward to that and I I
37:17
need to go and read. These other two because.
37:19
You're an you're an inspiration just on being able to move
37:23
forward, man. I mean, that's something that
37:25
I've thought about. Just preparing for this and and
37:28
looking forward to talking to you.
37:29
As I put tried to. Put myself just briefly in your
37:33
shoes and how would I react and. It's it's good to hear what you
37:39
should do you. Know, and I know it wasn't that
37:43
easy in those moments either and looking back, but you made all
37:47
of the right decisions and you did all the right things and
37:50
it's it's encouraging. To others to see that.
37:53
And it's for me to be an outsider, it's inspiring to me
37:58
to know that this number one exists.
38:01
If this were to ever happen, I. Pray to God it doesn't.
38:04
But if it ever does. To my family there is.
38:07
Hope. Out there and that is.
38:09
That's huge. That's the biggest.
38:11
Thing I think that's what we've the theme.
38:14
Of this whole show. Has been on as it.
38:17
Should be. That's the that is the.
38:20
That's got to be my biggest. Take away is that there's just
38:23
hope out there for people. And this story is so, so
38:28
inspiring. What is the what do you see as
38:31
the long term vision like ten years down the road, Tim, I know
38:36
that that's. Probably a crazy.
38:37
Question to ask but. Where do you hope?
38:40
This is 10 years from now. I hope we have an endowment.
38:43
I hope that I'm 61 years old and I think until I take my last
38:48
breath, I'll be involved with Team LACO for Mines.
38:50
But but Team LACO for Mines has to continue when I'm not here
38:53
anymore and when our staff not here, an endowment and raising
38:57
money and raising funds. The bottom line, Rhonda and I
39:00
both want to be able to help every single family that needs
39:04
our help. We had eight applications last
39:06
week alone. I talked to two parents just in
39:09
the last 24 hours. It is 24 hours a day nonstop
39:14
helping families and, and to me, 10 years from now, we want to be
39:19
that nonprofit that comes to mind everybody right away.
39:23
I have a child with a brain injury or I know someone who
39:25
does. I'm going to go out and and find
39:27
them through Team Luke. And I think one of the ways this
39:29
is going to happen is because of the documentary that that Tony
39:32
helped put together because this could be a game changer for us.
39:36
It really is an opportunity to hear about our story and to hear
39:40
how Team Luke Hofermind helps families each and every day.
39:43
It is man, it is very, very powerful and and guys, if you're
39:47
watching this on right now TV, you can go to our YouTube page
39:51
and and and. See this video.
39:53
Watch this. Full interview, we will have the
39:56
links in there. You can go to our.
39:58
Socials at Tigsbits podcast everywhere we'll be.
40:01
Sharing the links. As the as they debut.
40:04
And come out along with this. Show as well so so please please
40:09
go check all of. All of that out and Tim, Tony, I
40:13
mean this is. Like I said, this is as powerful
40:16
of a story as we have. Covered on Tigsbits for sure.
40:21
Appreciate y'all coming in Team Luke.
40:24
Hope for Mines is changing lives and we hope that everybody
40:27
that's watching will get involved.
40:30
And to our audience, Donate, share, support this mission.
40:34
Thank you so much.