Local Sports Journal
MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks hockey organization will be helping this week in an effort to raise funds for an injured high school hockey player.
Senior Detroit Catholic Central forward Matt Sorisho was injured Oct. 4 when he took a spill back-first into the boards, breaking his back in two places and his spinal cord severed. As a result of the injury, Sorisho was paralyzed from the waist down.
Craig Custance, a writer from ESPN.com recently wrote about Sorisho’s plight.
Sorisho underwent a seven-hour surgery at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, when doctors removed a shattered lumbar vertebra (between the rib cage and pelvis) along with inserting pins and rods to stabilize the spine. Sorisho also suffered a concussion in the incident.
He is currently rehabbing at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor for the next four to six weeks. Sorisho been visited by well-known hockey personalities such as Phoenix Coyotes Forward David Moss, a Detroit Catholic Central alum, and Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock, whose son, Mike Babcock Jr., played at Detroit Catholic Central and currently plays for the Fargo Force in the USHL.
Throughout this week, the Muskegon Lumberjacks Charitable Foundation (MLCF) is initiating an effort to help pay for Sorisho’s medical expances, in the form of donation boxes spread throughout the LC Walker Arena, the Lumberjacks’ home ice.
Going to directly to the ‘Matthew Sorisho Hockey Injury Fund,’ which was started by Sorisho’s parents, Debbie and James Sorisho, donations will help cover medical expences not covered by insurances, while also helping to purchase necessary equipment and handle cost-of-living increases incurred for Sorisho’s rehabilitation.
Two Lumberjack players, defenseman Carson Gatt and forward Cooper Marody, played with or against Sorisho , as did two members of the Sioux Falls Stampede, forwards Dakota Joshua and Cody Milan.
Fans wishing to donate directly to the ‘Matt Sorisho Hockey Injury Fund’ can go www.giveforward.com/
