Little Rock student recovering after near fatal brain injury

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Little Rock native and former college baseball player is thriving two years after a brain injury that doctors thought he might not survive.

“I absolutely remember nothing,” said 21-year-old Luke McKnight of the incident. “I remember nothing.”

For McKnight, putting together the pieces of what happened that weekend in early 2023 has been impossible.

He’s been told that he was spending the weekend in Fayetteville with friends during a rare weekend off from his own season at Southern Arkansas Tech.

His mom, Catherine McKnight, can fill in the gaps from there.

“I got a call from the police saying, ‘Is your son Luke McKnight?’ Catherine remembered. “And I said, ‘It is.’ And they said ‘He’s been in an accident in Fayetteville.”

It was a car accident that left Luke with severe brain damage and, according to doctors, a 20% chance of survival and a 5% chance of regaining functionality.

After emergency life-saving surgery at Washington Regional Medical Center, Luke McKnight spent time at the Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative Facility in Benton.

Tonya Sacomani is a speech-language pathologist there and said that while he [Luke] had recovered slightly from his time in the hospital when he arrived, he was still far from being at full health.

“When we first met Luke,” Sacomani said. “He was in a wheelchair. He had a soft helmet on. He was missing part of his skull. He had not had his bone flap replaced at the time.”

Sacomani said Luke McKnight’s strength, endurance, eyesight, memory, and balance were all affected. He was often confused, thinking the facility was some sort of camp with people he knew.

“I lived there for 10 months,” Luke McKnight said. “Learning how to walk again, learning how to talk and make sense of things.”

And now, Luke McKnight has exceeded all expectations.

He’s running and working out again, and he’s back in school, now at the University of Central Arkansas, studying to help others just like him.

“Now, because of my injury,” Luke McKnight said. “I really aspire to become an occupational therapist.”

Both Luke and Catherine credit their faith for getting Luke to where he is.

Though he may not be playing baseball anymore, with faith and hard work, Luke McKnight’s new dream of being an OT and inspiring others should be easy.

“Luke is one of those people who just had resilience,” Sacomani said. “He had internal motivation. He has support.”

“He’ll continue to keep getting better and better over the next few years,” Catherine McKnight said.

Last month, Luke McKnight had the chance to go back to Washington Regional and meet the doctors and surgeons who saved his life for the first time.

The hospital described Luke as “a walking miracle” in a Facebook post that shared pictures of the reunion.