North Callaway, Westminster communities garner support for injured student

Friends and neighbors are rallying around a North Callaway youth who was seriously injured in an accident Feb. 14.

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Diana Julian (left), the Arkansas Department of Education's interim commissioner, talks Monday with staff members Linda C. James (center) and Angela Scaife in Little Rock.

Luke Brown, 18, was working on a logging project with his father when a dead tree limb fell 50 feet and struck him in the head. After being taken to University Hospital in Columbia, Brown was diagnosed with a fractured skull, spine and back, as well as bleeding on the brain.

Brown still was in the Trauma and Surgical ICU Friday, but his sister, Erikka Brown said he is in stable condition and he is heavily sedated.

"During his neuro check today he stuck up both of his thumbs and opened his eyes," Erikka Brown said.

Asked about her brother's prognosis after the surgery, Brown said they are not certain exactly what kind of physical or mental limitations he may be faced with.

"The doctors have told us we're not living on any kind of timeline here; we're just playing it day by day and hoping for the best," she said. "Right now he's moving everything, so that's all good signs."

A number of fundraisers have been set up for Luke Brown - a 2013 North Callaway graduate and a freshman at Westminster College.

His girlfriend, Makayla Morrison, has set up an online donation page at yourcaring.com/liftingupluke, friends are selling "Team Luke" T-shirts at teespring.com/teamlukebrown and another group is selling camouflage bracelets for $5 - available from Sara Baysinger at (573) 590-3076. Donations also can be made to the Luke Brown Medical Fund at Central Bank of Fulton.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.