| Tuesday
May 9, 2006 was a beautiful day
and I decided to go on a bike
ride. My kids were at school
and my wife, Lisa, was at work. I
was excited to try out a new
mountain bike trail that my neighbor
told me about. The trail
was close to home, so I decided
to try out the trail by myself. A
few days earlier, my daughter,
Emily, wanted to ride my bike
and I decided to remove the clip-in
pedals that had been on my bike
for the past two years and replace
them with regular pedals, making
it easier for Emily to ride. I
considered changing the pedals
back before I rode, but for whatever
reason, I decided to leave the
regular pedals on my bike. This
would later prove to be a very
fortunate decision. |
| When I
found the trail, I pulled my
car over, unloaded my bike and
grabbed my cell phone. I
usually take my cell phone with
me in case of an emergency, but
almost left it behind that day
because it showed that there
was no service. An hour
or so later, I was thoroughly
enjoying the newfound trail. I
was going faster than I should
have been on a new trail and
as I rounded a corner, I came
across an unexpected bridge. I
hit the bridge at the wrong angle
and my front wheel immediately
did a nose dive. I went
head first over the handle bars
and landed against the bank on
the other side of the raven. |
| Fortunately,
I always wear a bike helmet and
I did not lose consciousness.
I remember everything in great
detail. I assessed myself
and was relieved to learn that
I could move my arms and legs,
so I was not paralyzed. I was
also grateful at this point that
my feet had not been clipped
into the pedals on my bike as
that could have created even
more problems. I pulled
my cell phone out to call my
wife, but again it said no service. In
hopes of somehow getting service,
I lifted the phone into the air
as far as I could (I guess a
little closer to God) and I suddenly
had service. I called Lisa,
who was home by now, to let her
know that I had wrecked my bike. I
told her my general location
so she would know where I was
if I was not able to make it
home in 30 minutes. I pushed
my bike out of the raven, despite
a numbness and hot burning sensation
down my left arm. I figured
I had pinched a nerve in my neck
or perhaps even broken my collarbone. While
I had assessed my physical condition
immediately after the crash,
I did not realize the extent
of my injuries. |
| I had planned
on riding the bike out of the
woods, but lifting my left arm
was impossible and I was forced
to push it out. I wasn’t
even sure where the road was
because I had been riding around
in circles for about an hour. Fortunately,
I had an idea of the general
direction and found the road
pretty quickly. My car
was parked down a hill along
the road and to speed things
up, I decided to ride the bike
down to my car. Probably
not a good idea, as there was
a lot of loose gravel on the
road, but God held me steady. I
loaded my bike (I couldn’t
leave it . . . bikes are expensive!)
and drove home. |
| By this
point, I was really having trouble
holding my head upright and the
possibility of a neck injury
was becoming very real, so I
tried to hold my head as still
as possible. I called Lisa
again to update her on what I
now believed to be a more serious
injury and the need to go to
the emergency room. By
the time I arrived home, I was
not able to change my clothes
and get out of my biking gear
and we left right away for the
hospital. Since the day
of the accident, several medical
persons have told me what a miracle
it is than I didn’t make
my injury worse by all of my
moving around!! |
| We arrived
at the local emergency room and
I was relieved to see I was the
only patient . . . how often
does that happen? X-Rays
showed that I had suffered no
brain or head injury thanks to
my bike helmet, but that I had
broken my neck. At this
point, both Lisa and I agreed
that I needed to go to Columbus
for additional medical treatment. We
were unsure which hospital, but
decided on Riverside because
a good friend of our family is
a nurse there and always talks
about what an awesome place it
is. However, God had other
plans. During a phone conversation
with one of our friends who had
called to check on my condition,
a doctor nearby overheard her
end of the conversation and told
her that I needed to be transferred
immediately to Grant hospital
because they would have the care
and facilities that I needed. When
the nurse returned with the transfer
paperwork, she apologized because
Riverside was full and not able
to take me, but Grant hospital
was able to take me. In
addition, another family friend
who is an orthopedic surgeon
just happened to be driving by
the hospital when he learned
of the accident and stopped in
to check on me. He was
very helpful explaining everything
to my wife and I about my injuries. |
| We
were soon on our way by ambulance
to Grant Hospital. After
more X-rays and an MRO, the surgeon
told me that I had two fractures
in my neck and two compressions
fractures in the middle of my
back. He said that I would
probably need surgery and have
to wear a halo during recovery. However,
there was another |
|
|
| complication. There
was an aneurysm around the area
where my neck was fractured. The
surgeon informed us that it would
do little good to fix the fracture
only to have the aneurysm rupture
and cause my death. He decided
to postpone the surgery until he
decided what to do about the aneurysm. I
had another MRI the next and the
aneurysm had unexplainably disappeared! Lisa
told me that the sermon the past
week had been on making your prayers
specific, so that’s what
she did….she had prayed
that my aneurysm would go away. Thank
you honey! Even more good
news followed because the doctor
said my symptoms seemed to have
gotten a little better and he wanted
to hold off on surgery for now.
Over the next couple of days, I
continued to improve and surgery
was becoming less and less likely. I
spent a few long days in critical
care, but by Saturday, less than
a week after my accident, I was
standing and walking a bit. Much
to our surprise and reluctance,
I was discharged from the hospital
on Sunday even though I could not
sit up or get out of bed by myself,
and even with help it was very
painful. |
| The amazing
events that had already taken place
following my accident continued
after we got home. We arrived
home to find a lazy-boy lift chair
that a relative had brought for
me to use and it was a life saver. I
spent a lot of time in that chair! It
came with a stack of movies to
watch and our new miniature dachshund
and thoroughly enjoyed both the
chair and the movies! I received
many cards, calls, visits, and
delicious meals that were brought
to help out. I was very limited
in what I was able to do physically
or lift and it put an extra burden
on my family. Lisa, however,
wasted no time and quickly stepped-in
and took on the responsibility
of doing all the things I typically
did around the house, as well as
doing all the driving to functions
for the kids and even for me when
I was eventually allowed to go
back to work. Fortunately,
our daughter, Alison, had gotten
her permit a month before my accident
and was able to help drive me around
because I was not allowed to drive
until I was out of the neck brace,
which I wore for 3 months. |
| In addition
to the rearrangement of our lives
due to my injuries, things were
also strained financially. At
my current job, I do not get “sick
days” and my vacation days
were quickly depleted. We
had no idea how much the insurance
was going to pay on my medical
bills which were over $50,000 and
my disability payments would not
start for 90 days. When I
was finally able to go back to
work, my income was about 1/3 of
what it normally was because I
was not able to work full time. We
decided to make some cut backs,
but continue to tithe to church
and trust that God would work things
out. He was faithful! The
doctor’s office where Lisa
works was busy and she was able
to pick-up some extra hours and
my boss, who was now covering all
the hours that I should have working
at the pharmacy, felt moved to
give me a “bonus” equal
to about 2 weeks of pay. After
about six weeks off work, I was
allowed to go back to work for
two hours a day, two to three days
a week. Just before my accident,
my daughter Alison had started
working part-time at the pharmacy
where I worked, so she was able
to drive me to work, work a few
hours with me and them then drive
us home. God really does
orchestrate well, doesn’t
He? I was gradually able
to go back to work full-time and
my insurance paid most of the medical
bills. I am doing much better
now, but biking is a no-no until
spring. |
| Too often
in life, we don’t take the
time to thank the people who have
an impact on our lives. I
want to take this opportunity to
do that right now. First
of all, thank you to all of you
here at North Terrace and other
area churches for all of your prayers,
phone calls, visits, cards and
meals. It would be hard
to convey how important you all
were in my recovery. Thank
you to the members of my men’s
accountability group who were willing
to pick me up at 6:00 am for three
months so that I could continue
with the group. Thank you
to my family for all of the work
you did while I was unable to do
it. Mostly, thank you Lisa. You
were the one that made sure I was
getting the care I needed, you
shaved me, dressed me, you worked
your job and then came home and
did my work, as well as your own,
at the house. You drove all
3 of the kids to all of their sports
activities as well as taking me
everywhere. You are the glue that
holds our family together! When
you promise to love each other
for “better or worse” I
guess this is what that means. |
| Finally,
I want to thank God for watching
over me in ways I could never have
imagined. I had an accident
that could have easily ended my
life or left me in a wheelchair
struggling just to breath. In
fact, just shortly after my accident,
there were two other people that
suffered a fractured neck and both
remain paralyzed from the neck
down. God chose to spare
me from that fate and I believe
He has more work for me to do…in
the church, the community, or in
my own family. I am thankful
that He has given me the opportunity
to do it. Lastly, I want
to remind everyone that the same
God that worked all of these miracles
in my life is there for each of
you. I hope that you don’t
wait until a tragedy or accident
before you turn to Him. |
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