By Denise Lana,
Kickin’ It Forward’s inaugural kickball tournament was held the last week of August 2018 and was originally called Kicking It For Kort in honor of Kort Steffens, pictured here wearing a shirt bearing that same name. Steffen sports a cast protecting his healing hand that was very nearly lost in a UTV accident less than two months prior to this picture. (Photo submitted)
When 7-year-old Kort Steffens nearly lost his right hand in a utility terrain vehicle incident in 2018, his parents never fathomed the traumatic event would springboard the birth of an organization focused on financially assisting families enduring medical emergencies.
This year’s Kickin’ It Forward event will get started at 1 p.m., Saturday, with a kickball tournament at the Festina ball diamond. There will also be a bounce house and ice cream and numerous items for raffle and silent auction in the Festina Community Center. A pulled pork dinner will be available for a free-will donation from 5-7 p.m. in the community center.
An unexpected injury
It was early July 2018, when Kort’s mother Nichole Steffens was busying herself at their Festina home, cleaning the family’s camper in preparation for July 4 events. Kort’s father Matt Steffens took Kort and his three siblings to join other neighborhood children as they all rode their UTVs.
“There was some water crossing the road, and all the kids were taking turns going through the water, and it would splash up,” said Matt.
According to Matt, when it came time for the UTV Kort was riding in to drive through the water, the vehicle was traveling around 5 mph.
“After going through the water, the vehicle was turning around, and some anomaly happened — it hit a rock, or something — just a weird accident,” Matt said.
The UTV tipped, landing in such a precarious way that Kort’s hand was trapped under the vehicle.
A neighbor told Nichole something had happened.
“I called Matt and I heard screaming in the background,” Nichole said. “My mind immediately went to the worst scenarios possible. I thought all four of my children had perished in some horrible accident.”
She recalled her relief at learning her son had only injured his hand.
“As a mom, I was relieved it wasn’t his head and it wasn’t his heart — it was a relief it was just a hand accident,” she said.
Kort was airlifted to Gundersen Health System in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, but the facility was limited in its treatment of Kort’s injuries. His hand was nearly de-gloved — meaning the skin was nearly pulled off, exposing the bone — and his radius bone was broken. There was also extensive nerve as well as soft tissue damage, and two torn arteries cut off the blood supply to his hand and fingers.
The medical professionals at Gundersen recommended Kort be transported to a Mayo facility in LaCrosse, where he stood a better chance of his hand being saved — the staff at Gundersen might have needed to amputate his hand had the boy stayed.
“We arrived at Mayo before his helicopter got there, and as we walked in the hospital, there was a pediatric specialist, a pediatric surgeon, a neuroscience specialist, and like 15 specialists there with their fellows, all waiting there for Kort,” said Nichole.
As soon as Kort arrived, the team swarmed his bed and formulated their plan of attack to save his hand. After six surgeries, numerous bacterial and fungal infections and 18 days in the hospital, Kort’s hand was showing signs of life. At first he was told his hand was saved but wasn’t expected to function. A few days later, he was told his hand might have partial functionality. After returning home and undergoing weeks of occupational therapy, Kort regained full function of his hand — today he tells curious people his scars are from a shark attack.
“It’s pretty normal now,” said Kort. “I play five sports now — football, wrestling, cross country, baseball and track.”
Surprising support
While Kort largely returned to normal life, Nichole and Matt were tending to their own financial injuries in the form of medical bills.
“The airlifting alone was around $150,000,” said Matt.
Friends and family decided to hold a kickball tournament to raise money for the family in August of 2018. The inaugural event was called Kicking It For Kort.
Around that same time, Nichole received a letter from a non-profit called Do Better. Be Better. The non-profit organization located in Dike was founded by Jamie Smith to assist families with medical emergencies after she herself survived a brain tumor. Along with the letter from Smith was a check for the Steffens family to use for medical bills. The donation and the relief it brought moved Nichole to tears as she stood at the family’s kitchen table that day.
“It was comforting to know we knew we weren’t alone in our battle,” she said.
Soon, the family was talking with their family and friends about ways to offer similar aid to other families, and they didn’t have to look far for inspiration. The Kicking It For Kort fundraiser was renamed Kicking It Forward and became an annual happening.
The first year’s event garnered a few sponsors and raised around $20,000, according to Matt. With each progressive year, the amount raised by Kicking It Forward has increased by around $5,000, and today the organization has more than 50 sponsors as well as dozens of businesses who donate items for raffles and silent auctions.
“Our true growth is when a family who has received a donation from us pays it forward and donates,” Nichole said. “It’s the community giving back to the community.”
A small-town tradition
Matt said the tournament has become a town festival among Festina’s 1,260-some residents.
“We always have it the weekend around the first of school, and all the kids get to come together with all their classmates and all their friends,” he said.
Kickin’ It Forward accepts anonymous nominations for fund recipients through its website, Facebook page and word of mouth.
“Sometimes our kids go to school and hear about friends and classmates whose family might be going through a hard time, and they come home and tell us, and we do what we can to help those families out,” said Nichole.
The 501C organization meets once a month to review submitted nominations. Kickin’ It Forward focuses on families with children and has helped families across northeast Iowa, from New Hampton and West Union to Waukon and Decorah.
“Families receiving a donation don’t even know any money is coming,” Matt said. “They just go to the mailbox and the money is there. It’s nice to know you aren’t alone, especially when you are in the middle of a crisis, and you don’t know which way is up or down. Then you get a letter from someone who knows your pain.”
In addition to the kickball tournament and dinner, the organization hosts a UTV ride each year in the fall. More than 200 UTVs have participated since its inception in 2020, and the ride has proven to be a popular draw for locals.
“It is out in the country — an area with tons of private trails in the Eldorado valley,” said Nichole. “You pay to ride, show up with your UTV and bring your coolers. When the rides are done, there is a light meal, and even though it is on a Sunday, it’s early enough it doesn’t mess up with people going to work the next day.”
Nichole has collected all the thank you letters recipients have sent them over the past six years, and she and the family often brings them out to read when life gets a little out of focus.
“Being a part of this organization, sometimes we get frustrated. Six years ago, I never would have imagined we would be doing something like this,” said Matt. “We’ve got another meeting, or we’ve got to sacrifice personal time to do something more important. But then we read a thank you note, and it helps put a little sunshine on our day to help us make it through.”
For more information, visit the organization’s Facebook page at Kickin’ It Forward or the website at https://kickinitforward.wixsite.com/-inc.
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