New Lenox Woman Looks To Honor Brother With Special Needs

NEW LENOX, IL — New Lenox resident Matthew Lukacek was an avid bowler. He enjoyed going to dances. He was a Special Olympian in both swimming and bocce ball. Wherever there were activities going on, there he was, always making friends along the way. Until, on Sept. 9, 2021, Lukacek died at the age of 34.

"He was the light of everyone's life. His smile lit up every room," said Lukacek's sister Denise Singh, also of New Lenox.

On July 1, 2021, Lukacek was drinking orange juice and started to choke. On July 3 he went into the hospital, where he spent a considerable amount of time in the ICU and on a ventilator. Lukacek was released from the hospital on Aug. 24. He died just 16 days later from acute respiratory distress syndrome, Singh said.

Lukacek was born with Down syndrome. But, that is not what defined him, Singh said; rather, he was defined by his outgoing, friendly attitude and his desire to be involved in whatever activities were going on around him, and it's that memory that Singh is hoping to keep as she works to find a way to best honor his memory.

Lukacek was active in both South Suburban Special Recreation Association in Tinley Park and Lincolnway Special Recreation Association in New Lenox.

"He went to everything, so everyone knew him," Singh said.

Sing recalled going to parks with her brother when they were younger and the difficulties Lukacek sometimes face.

"Parks, when we were younger, were hard — just climbing up a regular slide or different things like that," Singh said.

Some local areas are starting to become more inclusive for those with special needs. But, Singh said, she wonders if there's not more our communities can do together to make things even better.

It was that question in her mind that got Singh motivated to start reaching out on social media sites to try and get a group of like-minded people together to see what ideas they can come up to answer the question.

Things are still very early on in the brainstorming phase, Singh said, but she hopes by putting the word out there that more people will join in the effort.

"Something like that would be awesome, especially because we do have a large population of people who face adversity," she said. "I don't even want to call it a disability. It's not. It's what their ability is."

Singh said she has spoken to staff at LWSRA, which does have a park built specifically for those with special needs, but that staff there have told Singh that some of the facilities they wanted at the park needed to be left out because of a lack of funding.

"So, I was thinking because they do have stuff like that locally, maybe we could add stuff," Singh said.

She said a lot of comments on social media were suggestions to start a GoFundMe page for her ideas, but Singh said she's not familiar enough with the process yet to start that.

Other ideas people have suggested included finding ways to apply for grants or other sources of government funding.

"I think our community is pretty close knit, and we can do this. It's just I don't know [how to start]," Singh said. "I want to make sure it's done right. I want to make sure it meets the needs of those who really will benefit the most from it.

"Plus, it's a great tribute to Matthew and who he was."

Those interested in helping Singh come up with a way to honor Lukacek's memory can reach out to her via email at nanathana08@gmail.com.