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A father of two has begun to stir from a coma after a stock car crash in Palmerston North.
Taylor Lampp, 32, was injured after being knocked unconscious during a speedway race.
Lampp’s loved ones have set up a Givealittle page, raising at least $19,000 for his family.
A father of two small children has begun to stir from a coma after suffering serious injuries while racing a stock car in Palmerston North last Friday.
Taylor Lampp’s loved ones have set up a Givealittle page to support him and his young family during what is expected to be a lengthy recovery.
The 32-year-old was seriously injured in the crash at Robertson Prestige International Speedway after being knocked unconscious while driving.
Taylor Lampp shares two young children with his partner.
“On Friday night Taylor was competing in King of the Arena, which is a stock car championship,” said sister-in-law Ashleigh King.
“He just had a standard kind of racing incident, like a contact sport, so he had a hit from another car, which we think resulted in him becoming unconscious. During that it seems his foot has gone down on the accelerator, which has kind of sent him into the wall, taking quite a big hit, and then continuing around the wall for about another half lap.”
The track staff were able to get Lampp out of the car and he was admitted to the ICU in Palmerston North and placed into an induced coma.
“They turned off the medication for the sedation on Saturday morning. Since then we’ve just kind of been waiting for him himself to wake up.”
His loved ones began seeing progress yesterday as Lampp began opening his eyes, trying to speak, and responding to some instructions and communication.
“He’s going through waves of conscious levels, we’ve managed to get a few words out of him. Some of it we can kind of figure out what he’s trying to say.”
Lampp also had surgery on a broken arm on Monday.
Taylor Lampp is heavily involved in the racing community in Manawatu.
“He’s had an incredible amount of support up here. He has had someone from our family at his side basically since it happened, people staying with him and everything.”
His two children, aged 1 and 3, have been keeping to their daycare routines and have visited the hospital to give him goodnight kisses and bring him pictures they had drawn.
The oldest has been told Lampp needs to sleep after hurting his arm, King said.
Members of the racing community have banded together to help out, with the Givealittle page already receiving at least $19,000 in donations since the page was created on April 21.
Others have been organising raffles and donating items to raise money for Lampp and his family, and sharing messages of love and support on social media.
“We honestly can’t even believe it, like not even just his stock car team has gotten behind him and done a lot of raffles but even other tracks have really kind of stepped up and helped out. The amount of offers and stuff we’ve had coming in is really good,” King said.
She wanted to share a “massive thank you” to everyone who had helped in some way.
“Even though we might not get back to everyone, we’re really appreciative of what everyone is doing... none of it goes unnoticed.
She said Lampp was an “amazing” father and an “extremely hard worker”. He runs his Lampp Engineering business working on stock cars, and also works for his partner’s parents’ business.
“He is like the nicest guy, and yeah, he’s just very driven and hard-working. He’s always helping everyone else. It’s nice to see that favour coming back around.”
King also described Lampp as a “very, very talented driver”.
She again wanted to thank everyone who donated to the Givealittle, saying it would be some time before Lampp would be able to work again.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
