Ski accident victim has a huge cheering section

Sal LoCascio has a lot of friends, and they’re all pulling for him.

The 20-year-old Prospect Heights native lost the use of his limbs when he fell on his back while attempting a ski jump a month ago.

His sister, Aimee Budris, insists he’s “still the same person.”

LoCascio, a student at Northern Colorado University in Greeley, was on his last ski trip Dec. 12 before coming home for the holidays. The snow was faster than usual.

“He totally lost control in the air,“ Budris said, and when he landed he fractured and crushed three vertebrae.

Friends of Budris wanted to do something to help. They set up a fundraising web page that has raised more than $25,000 at giveforward.com/hopeforsal.

Budris, a special-education teacher, spent her holiday break in Colorado with LoCascio and their mother, Gina LoCascio. An air ambulance brought him to Resurrection Holy Family Hospital in Des Plaines, where relatives take turns being at his side.

Budris is upbeat about her brother’s future. He no longer uses a ventilator and has started moving his thumbs a bit. Recently he started eating soft foods, is practicing using a spoon with shoulder power so he can feed himself, and finally got the glass of water he had dreamed about.

“It was a really big deal,” Budris said. “We joked about it. ‘Would you ever think that all you wanted was a glass of water?’”

The family celebrated Christmas at Holy Family on Jan. 8.

“We decided to wrap everything in tissue paper. And Sal opened his own presents,” she said.

“Someone held the box, and he opened it. He used his wrist to manipulate his fingers. He put the bottom of his thumbs together to rip the paper. It was nice to see him accomplish it.”

LoCascio, an athlete from his days at John Hersey High School, “loves to try everything, loves to be moving,” said his sister. “He does bicep curls; he’s really determined. He believes he will make significant progress. He tells his friends he will go back to Colorado and finish what he started there.”

And the only time anyone reports seeing the accounting and finance major down was after he had a long Skype talk with his friends in Colorado. They were going out for the evening, and LoCascio knew he would have been with them if not for the accident.

But that quiet spell was short-lived, and he soon asked for help with the leg exercises that the physical therapists have shown the family. LoCascio and his family hope he will soon go to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

The online fundraising campaign was started by a group of women who have been friends with the 25-year-old Budris since at least junior high school, said Megan Streich.

“We needed to do something,” she said. The group chose giveforward.com because it seemed the easiest for people to use.

“We signed up for it and sent emails to family and friends. It caught on like wildfire,” Streich said. “People Aimee works with, those who played baseball with Sal, teachers who knew him.”

While one donor gave $2,500 and a few $1,000, most of the approximately 250 donations were much smaller.

“The outpouring of support, love and prayers is definitely overwhelming,” Budris said. “We haven’t felt alone. It is awesome. I even saw on Facebook some people wrote instead of asking for Christmas gifts they want to help Sal. I can’t even wrap my brain around that.”