Kirk Ingram was raised in Woodbury, Minnesota. A natural athlete from the start, Kirk played soccer, hockey, and baseball growing up, and ultimately played college baseball for Concordia St. Paul. Kirk currently holds Concordia's record for career saves with 14. In 71 career appearances from 2006-2009, a school record in itself, Kirk had an 11-6 win/loss and career 4.71 ERA. In his 116.2 innings, Kirk struck out 87 batters. He also holds the Concordia record for most finished appearances, 51 of his 71 games. In addition to his record stats, Kirk earned the NSIC Britton Award in 2009 and was named a Top 4 student-athlete twice during his career.
Over the years he's mastered all sorts of other sports as well - broomball, beersbee, bags, darts, and volleyball, just to name a few.
In addition to his many athletic talents, Kirk is a Project Manager for Target corporate. His co-workers describe him as hard-working, dedicated, and energetic. Kirk is a natural leader and the ultimate team player. After hearing the news of Kirk's accident, his Target team rallied around him and threw a benefit in his honor, even involving a Target-filled band, Grateful Red.
The Accident:
On August 1, 2015, Kirk and a group of friends were hanging out on Lake Minnetonka for a bachelor party. Kirk playfully dove off the anchored pontoon in a shallow area and hit his head on the bottom, which severely damaged his spinal cord, but did not sever it. He was airlifted to North Memorial Hospital, where he endured a seven-hour surgery in the middle of the night, with family and close friends anxiously awaiting news. The surgery was ultimately successful, stabilizing Kirk's spine to allow for future movement from his shoulders up.
During his early days in the ICU, breathing on his own became more difficult. Despite his attempts to increase lung capacity, doctors performed a tracheotomy to aid Kirk's breathing efforts. It didn't take long before the trache was removed, and Kirk was able to breathe and eat without any trouble. Through it all, Kirk pushes himself everyday to maintain muscle mass, and move forward in his recovery to gain mobility back throughout his body.
While Kirk knows he has just started this journey and he looks towards the goals he hopes to reach, he has adopted a motto to keep his focus on the present - "Just worry about today."
For more specific information about Kirk's day-to-day progress, click on the CaringBridge link on the right-hand side of the home page.
What you should know about Kirk:
We all know that Kirk is a great athlete, hard worker, and dedicated teammate, but everyone close to him knows he's also the ULTIMATE friend. Kirk has a giant heart, and he loves with all of it. If you need a ride somewhere, Kirk will pick you up. If you need to cut trees down, Kirk will lend a hand (he's had lots of experience too). Even if you just need a hug, he's your guy.
Have you wondered why Kirk's CaringBridge page has over 40,000 visits in less than a month since his accident? Or how $91,082 was raised through GoFundMe in just 17 days? It's because Kirk is Kirk.
If anyone else had been injured in this way, you can bet that Kirk would have organized a fundraiser, ordered t-shirts to sell, and set up a GoFundMe page to advertise through social media, all within the first week. That's why we did it too - not only because we love Kirk, but also because it's what he would do. Kirk is an amazing party planner, and I think we've made him pretty proud of our efforts.
In addition to being an incredible friend, Kirk is the strongest person we all know. He doesn't quit, and he faces challenges head-on. That's how we know that despite the long journey ahead, Kirk is the best of us to go through it. There will be good days, and some pretty tough days. But, there's no doubt that if anyone can push through the tough days, to look at them as minor setbacks and not permanent roadblocks, it's him. He's our hero.
Throughout this journey, we expect a lot of laughter. Kirk can break tension so effortlessly, and he's always good for a reassuring smile. And it's hard not to chuckle at his shenanigans.
Finally, it's a known fact that Kirk is incredibly thrifty. Case in point: at a recent church bowling event, there was still a little more time left to bowl. As always, Kirk was sure to make every minute count!
Since Kirk's journey will include new equipment, technology, and therapeutic services to help him on a day to day basis, along with unexpected medical bills, every dollar donated is greatly appreciated. And we can almost guarantee that it will be used wisely, especially if Kirk has anything to say about it!
We've used certain hashtags to describe the road ahead - #BrickbyBrick, #TeamKirk - but they're more than just social media catchphrases. They mean something to everyone on this journey, because we know that Kirk has the strength to move bricks and to push through obstacles with the strength of a warrior, and we know that he won't have to do it alone, because he will have the strength of Team Kirk behind him every step of the way.
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