LITTLE CYPRESS, Texas — A benefit this weekend will support a beloved Little Cypress-Mauriceville youth football coach who lost his leg in a motorcycle wreck just over a year ago.
In August 2023, Billy Van Pelt, 50, was leaving a scrimmage at the high school along Texas Highway 87 in Little Cypress on his motorcycle when he was struck by a car.
The wreck turned the world upside down for Van Pelt and his family.
“They were trying to keep me alive, so it was either my leg or my life,” Van Pelt told 12News.
On the day of the wreck, when Van Pelt didn’t get home, his wife, Brittni Van Pelt, started calling and texting him.
Then she checked the location of where his phone was and when it stopped she knew something was amiss.
"I was calling him and texting him and checking his location and that doing that over and over again,” Brittni Van Pelt explains. “All of a sudden, his location stops at St Elizabeth and so I knew right then something was wrong."
Her fears were then confirmed when she got a phone call from the hospital telling her that Billy had been in a serious wreck and was about to be intubated.
Saturday benefit will help Southeast Texas youth football coach who lost leg in August 2023 motorcycle wreck
When she asked what was happening and why he was being intubated she head the news that would change their lives.
"I was like, What? What do you mean? Intubate him? And she's like, Well, we're about to have to have to amputate his leg."
Once Van Pelt’s family arrived at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont they learned just how critical his situation was.
“I kept passing in the hospital,” Van Pelt says. “So, it wasn’t like it was just, oh I lost my leg, it was a phase there where they were trying to keep me alive.”
The decision was made to amputate Billy’s left leg.
"They said it's his life or his leg,” Brittni told 12News.
Following the amputation, despite the situation, his family was able to keep his spirts up in their own non-traditional way which included humor.
"My family has a lot of dark humor,” Van Pelt explains. “You know, definitely a lot of one-legged jokes were thrown my way."
A year after the wreck he’s still recovering and he and his family need help covering the cost of his prosthetics and upcoming surgeries that will help alleviate some of the pain he still has.
Van Pelt’s community has come together to support him and his family and is holding a benefit at American Legion Post 493 on Nederland Ave this Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The benefit, which starts at 11 a.m., will feature $10 plate lunches, a washer tournament, a DJ from 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. and balloon animals, face painting and a bounce house for the kids.
Van Pelt ended up spending just over three weeks in the hospital, including 11 days in the ICU, where he was in a coma for most of the time.
He had a total of five surgeries while in the hospital.
Since being released Van Pelt has had more procedures and another surgery and he’s now getting fitted for his third “socket.”
A “socket” is a custom-fit sleeve that enables a prosthetic to be fitted to what’s let of Van Pelt’s upper leg. Due to changes in his leg, he’s needed new ones.
Another surgery will be needed to help alleviate some issues and pain he’s been having.
Van Pelt has spent a dozen years coaching youth football in Southeast Texas. His socket features the logo and name of his current youth football team, the Battlin’ Bears.
"I told them I was getting a tattoo, “Van Pelt said. “Then when I went back to practice, they were like, that's not a tattoo."