Blood drive held for LSU conditioning coach injured in Fourth of July accident

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — LSU Strength and Conditioning Coach Katie Guillory is known for building muscles for student athletes, but today, her community showed its support.

Tiger Nation is rolling up its sleeves, proving that real strength shows up when you need it most.

It’s more than just blood; it’s a show of strength and love for one of LSU’s own.

“It’s just love, you know, it’s a place where you become family, you know? And Katie was born and raised in Louisiana,” said Julia Santos, a friend. “She bleeds purple and gold, and the state of Louisiana, quite frankly, has shown up for her. God doesn’t give anybody anything that they can’t handle, you know, and I think to just remember that everything happens for a reason.”

The LSU community stepped up in a big way for Guillory. A blood drive brought out friends and supporters giving back to a woman who has poured so much into others.

“I kind of just giggled and said to myself, like, ‘Of course, this is the way LSU runs it, and these are the people that work here.’ That’s just the way they take care of their people,” said Guillory.

Guillory is thankful that the LSU community went above and beyond for her following the accident Fourth of July weekend, and she said throwing events like this is the way it should be done.

“Sending out a message to campus saying ‘Go donate blood,’ but basically one-upping them and saying, ‘Hey, you bring the blood bus here and we’ll get more in here and make fliers and send out emails and things like that.’ I think that’s a perfect example of how that’s above and beyond and unmatched by any means,” she said.

No matter her condition, Coach Guillory wants to be a constant presence for her student athletes in any way possible.

“I want to help coach any way I can, and I want to be a constant presence, regardless of whether I’m in a wheelchair, on crutches, in a prosthetic, walking, sitting, doesn’t matter,” said Guillory.

And even though times get hard, the main lesson is to keep going regardless of the struggle.

“You just got to wake up and keep going and trust that you’re going to have a good day, you’re going to have bad days. But that’s part of life. And every day has got a lesson to teach you. If it’s not a great day, then you’ve got to lean into the lesson that you learn from that,” said Guillory.

Guillory’s friends have launched t-shirts with the name Steel Guil.

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