Against All Odds
By: Jennifer Herseim | Categories: Featured Stories
Wayne (center), and Lori Mote (standing behind), with their friends who have spearheaded support efforts after his accident.
In April 2022, Wayne Mote, CE 89, was running a sprint triathlon when he went into cardiac arrest. As a lifelong athlete, a former Georgia Tech offensive lineman, and an Ironman triathlete, he wasn’t expecting any issues during the sprint. His heart stopped for 22 minutes. Medical personnel were able to resuscitate him, but the lack of oxygen to his brain caused a global anoxic brain injury and he was on life support for months.
With the love, faith, and support of his wife and a group of dedicated Tech friends and former classmates, Wayne beat all the odds. He made it through the first days, weeks, and months at the hospital, then more months of intensive therapy at the Shepherd Center, an Atlanta-based nonprofit specializing in brain and spinal injuries. His wife and fellow Yellow Jacket, Lori, focused on getting him to respond.
“With a brain injury, you’re focused on trying to get a reaction of any sort,” Lori, Text 91, says. One moment during Wayne’s therapy stood out. “During one of the Shepherd Center sessions they played the Ramblin’ Wreck fight song, and he responded. He started tapping his foot and singing along.”
Three years after the accident, Wayne’s road to recovery has been long and complicated. His brain injury impacts his speech and mobility, and his needs can change day to day. A core group of seven alumni—friends of the Motes—have stepped in to lead support. They established the Mote Care Fund, where many have donated, allowing for major renovations to the Motes’ home, specialized ongoing therapy, and vehicle accommodations.
Wayne, who was an offensive lineman for the Jackets in the ’80s, has always been athletic, and that hasn’t changed, even with his accident. “At the Shepherd Center, he maxed out the leg machines. There’s no machine ready for a guy that’s 6'5",” says Larry Ragan, IE 86.
Ragan is part of the care team supporting Wayne, along with Helen, Mgt 89, and Kenny Smith, IE 90; Cindy, IE 90, and Thomas Rainey, CE 88, MS CE 92; and Kelli, IE 90, and Todd Long, CE 89, MS CE 90. The group bonded through their church community. “Wayne’s beat all the odds. He shouldn’t have had any use of his legs. He shouldn’t have communicated. The sheer willpower of him has beat all the odds,” Ragan says.
Faith & Football
Lori and Wayne met in church while students at Tech. “Our pastor said turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself, so I turned to Wayne and said, ‘Hi I’m Lori.’ This was the start of the spring quarter, and the very next day he was in my calculus class at Tech,” Lori says.
The young couple spent time together usually before or after Wayne’s football practices and attended “Friday Night Live” social events through Campus Crusade for Christ. They formed lifelong friends. “There are about 20 of us who still vacation and get together decades later,” Lori says. After Wayne graduated (Lori had a year to go in her co-op), the two married on April 1, 1989. “They’re always thinking about others,” says Ragan, who remembers how Lori sent him a card on the one-year anniversary of his father’s death. “They’re the type of people who give and care.”
In the first few months after Wayne’s accident, Lori looked to the care group for guidance. On Wayne’s birthday, a month after his accident, they went to The Varsity restaurant in his honor and the conversation turned grave. “We were discussing whether to pull him off life support,” Lori says. “It was really heavy.”
A year later after a grueling recovery, Wayne was able to join his family and friends at The Varsity. Since then, the annual Varsity birthday trip has become a tradition. At the most recent one, three years after the accident, Wayne and Lori posed for a photo surrounded by his care team. Also there were three of their four children and the couple’s friends. Wayne lifted his hand to cheer, “Go Jackets!”
To donate to the Mote Care Fund, contact Larry Ragan, coordinator, at blragan@icloud.com.
