Ottawa community raising money for 19-year-old star basketball player who suffered life-altering injuries
Posted Nov 21, 2022 01:29:00 AM.
The Ottawa community will be raising money for a 19-year-old basketball player after he was involved in a traumatic accident.
Stephane Okenge was a student-athlete enrolled at Notre Dame High School and became part of the elite-level Canada Topflight Academy (CTA) basketball program for two years. He was also part of the program's National Championship team, which won in 2018.
To further his passion, he was also enrolled at York University in Nebraska to play college-level basketball.
Tony House, coach at Canada Topflight Academy joined The Sam Laprade Show on Nov. 16 and talked about how Okenge was always dedicated to his passion.
“The minute he joined us, he had a major impact on me as a coach, on the floor,” he said. “He'd definitely be like a top five kid in work-ethic and (he's) just so goal-orientated.”
But on Sunday, Oct. 23, Okenge's life changed forever.
He was a passenger in a car accident and suffered major trauma to his cervical spine from extreme whiplash.
The most severe injuries are the major fractures to his cervical vertebrae, leaving him in a quadriplegic state, where he has no feeling or movement from his shoulders down. Okenge is currently in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Nebraska.
On Thurs, Dec. 1, 'Slam For Steph' event will aim to raise money to help aid Okenge's family with the hospital bills and House remains optimistic that enough can be raised.
A GoFundMe Page has also been set up and as of Nov. 20, it has raised just over $125,000 USD with a goal of $400,000 USD. While this may be a setback for Okenge, it's nothing that the 19-year-old can't handle anything, House added.
“But if there's any kid that can handle it, I think Steph is that one,” he said.” It's not going to be easy, we're going to try to do what we can from an Ottawa standpoint.”
Listen to Tony House's full interview below:
