Luke Holko upgraded, moved to private room

AKRON — Luke Holko, the 4-year-old Greene Township boy hit by a foul ball at a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game three weeks ago, has been moved to a private room from the Intensive Care unit at Akron Children’s Hospital, and his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious.

At a press conference in Akron Wednesday, Dr. James Besunder, director of critical care medicine at the hospital, said all brain swelling has subsided, and the boy has survived the “life-threatening phase,” and he is now in the “recovery” phase.

The boy is still not fully conscious, and it’s too early to tell how much of the function controlled by the brain stem in the back of the skull will be restored, Dr. Besunder said. The majority of the damage to Luke’s brain occurred in the brain stem, the doctor said.

“There is a very good chance Luke will make a good recovery,” Dr. Besunder said, adding that he doesn’t know if that means the boy will make a 100 percent recovery, 50 percent recover or something else.

The boy will probably be moved to the Children’s Rehabilitation center in the Cleveland Clinic by the middle of next week, said his mother, Nicole.

For details, see Thursday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.