Posts
3689
Joined
8/15/2006
Location
Winter Park, FL
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 1:20pm
First off, thanks to all of you that knew this news and remained silent until the family had time to adjust.
Most of you know Hatedman on this board as Lou Banka, the former owner of Bithlo MX, and friend to many of us here. Lou is friends with and/or helped develop many of the careers of top MX stars that ride today by scheduling extra track time and private riding sessions. He is the guy that always held the gate open late at night so you could get parked after a long drive; the guy that gave my stepson a trophy for finishing 1 lap of his first race; the guy that poured his heart and soul into the track; the guy that let us ride for free from time to time….GOOD GUY
Unfortunately, Lou suffered a massive stroke approximately 3 weeks ago and has been in the hospital and 24 hr. care facility since then. The outlook of his final condition is not very positive and hopefully all of you reading this will send a prayer (or several) to Lou and his family. Maybe one of them will get through and a true miracle can be achieved.
His family is having a hard time of it right now. Lou has three daughters and a wife whom all worked the track every week. Needless to say, their world has changed radically and your prayers are desperately needed.
There are people on this board that have more intimate knowledge about the whole situation and I hope will provide more complete details. I hate posting something like this, but it has been OK'd by those close to him that this news become public knowledge.
Please let Debbie and the kids know they and Lou are in your prayers…they are in mine.
Tim Eggers
Most of you know Hatedman on this board as Lou Banka, the former owner of Bithlo MX, and friend to many of us here. Lou is friends with and/or helped develop many of the careers of top MX stars that ride today by scheduling extra track time and private riding sessions. He is the guy that always held the gate open late at night so you could get parked after a long drive; the guy that gave my stepson a trophy for finishing 1 lap of his first race; the guy that poured his heart and soul into the track; the guy that let us ride for free from time to time….GOOD GUY
Unfortunately, Lou suffered a massive stroke approximately 3 weeks ago and has been in the hospital and 24 hr. care facility since then. The outlook of his final condition is not very positive and hopefully all of you reading this will send a prayer (or several) to Lou and his family. Maybe one of them will get through and a true miracle can be achieved.
His family is having a hard time of it right now. Lou has three daughters and a wife whom all worked the track every week. Needless to say, their world has changed radically and your prayers are desperately needed.
There are people on this board that have more intimate knowledge about the whole situation and I hope will provide more complete details. I hate posting something like this, but it has been OK'd by those close to him that this news become public knowledge.
Please let Debbie and the kids know they and Lou are in your prayers…they are in mine.
Tim Eggers
The Shop
Hoppy told me a couple weeks back
Get well Lou
Wish the best to the entire Banka family. They are good people, Lou and his wife have always been very nice to us. We even had the chance to ride at their house.
I wish him the best.
P
He can move his left arm and leg. He understands what is going on, but cant speak. He can now hold his head up. Every now and then he will smile. He is very weak. Half of his scull was removed when they performed the surgery to stop the bleeding which is what caused the stroke. While his condition is not good by previous standards, there has been improvement in the last month. The degree of recovery is not known and is simply in God's hands.
Debbie is very optimistic. If you know Debbie that's not surprising. Lou has health insurance but did not have a disability policy, so the income has stopped.
I know she is looking for and needs a job bad. If anyone in the Central Florida area needs help doing anything, please think of her when you go to hire somebody.
and when you speak to him or the family, send my (our) good wishes
Pit Row
I think Debbie said after he gets a stronger, they will move him to another facility that is more therapy oriented. Right now he can't do much, I think an hour or so a day.
get well soon moto brother
I personally think new faces are good. He seems to try harder to show "new " people how much he can move his arm, leg, etc.
If he is not in the room ( 248 second floor ), he is down the hall in re-hab. You can go in there as well and cheer him on. Be prepared as he does not look like the same Lou most of you remember.
Post a reply to: Hatedman, In case you didn't know....