The lacrosse community has rallied once more for a former college All-American who has suffered a traumatic brain injury because of a vehicular accident.
Hakeem Lecky, the Jamaican-born Syracuse lacrosse star who was a two-time captain and an honorable mention All-American as a senior in 2015, was reportedly riding home from work in New York City on a scooter May 22 and struck by another vehicle.
Lecky’s former teammate, Derek Maltz, started the GoFundMe page “Helping Hakeem Lecky” to assist with medical expenses and long-term rehabilitation care — much in the way that Casey Powell and Adam Ghitelman did for former Virginia All-American Chris Bocklet, whose recovery from an electric skateboard accident and global aphasia has been documented on this site and on “Overtime” with Paul Carcaterra.
“He is located in the ICU at Bellevue Hospital in NYC,” Maltz wrote last week. “He is currently stable but cognitive abilities such as recognition, speech and memory are limited.”
Former St. John’s men’s lacrosse player Donal Flaherty, who was teammates with Lecky at Avon Old Farms (Conn.), updated the GoFundMe on Wednesday to report that Lecky was relocated from a neurological intensive care unit to rehabilitation at Bellevue — an indication of progress in his recovery.
“The fight isn’t over and he has a long road ahead,” Flaherty wrote.
The GoFundMe page had generated more than $215,000 in donations as of Thursday morning. Several posts included the initials HHH, shorthand for the Syracuse lacrosse motto head, heart, hustle.
Lecky is a commercial real estate broker for Bestreich Realty Group in New York. He’s the inspiration behind SweetLax, one of the nation’s premier club lacrosse programs founded by his mentor and guardian, Kevin Martin. Lecky was the captain of the Jamaican national team that competed in the 2018 World Lacrosse Men’s World Championship in Netanya, Israel.