Motorcycles

Jim,
I always look forward to your comments. You always add humor and make me smile when it is difficult.
All,
I will deliver a new post later this evening or tomorrow with news following my visit to the doctors in Tulsa today. Until then, I feel a need to post a bit of a warning to other bikers.

This blog has been an absolutely wonderful way for people to help me stay positive throughout this journey of healing following a horrific motorcycle accident. It is still a miracle that I am alive and able to make this post and future posts. This miracle is likely a reality due to an outpouring of love, prayers and thoughts from all of my family, friends and even people I have never met.

Let's be honest. Owning a motorcycle was something that I have always thought about. It was always in the back of my mind, but never a priority. It was by chance that I won a contest that allowed me to pursue a longtime desire. It was only a short time, but I looked forward to waking up on a pleasant day and getting on my bike to go to work. The wind, the visibility and the freedom you feel on a bike is simply wonderful. I got on that bike every opportunity that I had and loved the feeling.

I have told friends and family that I do not have any hard feelings about having a motorcycle and I am happy that others can still enjoy their motorcycles. I would be lying if I told people that I do not want to ride a bike again. However, I promise that I have retired from riding a bike. There is no way that I will risk putting my family and friends in this situation again no matter how low the odds may be.

Several bikers ride for years without any incident. Other bikers say it is not a matter of if they will lay their bikes down, but when they will lay their bikes down.

Here is my warning to the other bikers out there enjoying the wind:
Shortly before Bikes Blues and Barbecue this year, a biker was enjoying a ride through a country highway when out of nowhere a deer stepped into his path.
He died through no fault of his own.
Another incident hap penned in this time frame where I do not know the outcome, but the biker was involved in an accident without his helmet and the news reported him in critical condition with severe head trauma.
Just last week I read a report in the paper that hit me very hard and resulted in today's post. A biker and his passenger were enjoying their ride when they were hit by an suv that never saw them. Like my accident, the biker was not doing anything wrong and were hit by a motorist who for some reason did not see them. The biker suffered multiple fractures in the legs and hips like I did. Luckily the passenger was not as severely injured. Thoughts have crossed my mind of trying to figure out who the biker was so I could meet and visit him. His life, like mine will never be the same again.
I have looked through the Internet for other victims that I can share my story with and learn from their recoveries. The only real site that I found seemed to be dedicated to bikers that are getting back on their bikes. Sometimes shortly after leaving the hospital and sometimes years after their accidents. I have not found that person to visit with to this day.

My closing comments:
To those of you that still ride. I do not look down on you and I do not condemn your decision. I only want you to know that you are putting not only yourself, but everyone in your life at risk of suffering a traumatic accident with lifelong affects. If you choose to ride without a helmet, that risk goes up exponentially.
You can talk until you are blue in the face about how safe you are, but that is not the point. The point is that there is no protection great enough to shield you from that motorist or animal that is not paying attention, makes a mistake or loses self control and hits you. It can happen at anytime day or night and the results are not pretty.

One of the many things that I hear during the multiple trips to the doctors is that I am lucky to survive. I have heard that it could take 1 to 2 years to hear - I am well into my second year and still have a long way to go. I have heard that there will be lingering affects for the rest of my life. I will certainly have some form of a limp and I may always require a crutch or a cane - I will work as hard as I possibly can to avoid using a walking device.

I am tired of the surgeries. I am tired of the pain. I am tired of not being able to take my dog on a walk with my wife. I am tired of needing to be cared for.

Please, please please - current and future bikers experienced and novice riders read this post. Seriously understand the risk that you take each time you ride. Please understand that you are not the only one that would be affected by an accident. It may not ever happen. Realize that my accident was a freak accident. Also realize that my accident was not and will not be the only one. Read the paper and watch the news. Innocent bikers are involved in tragic accidents regularly. If I had the ability to go back in time, I would find something other than a motorcycle to bring home from Heartland Honda. The risk is too high. The pain is too real. The changes in my life are permanent and they are not the changes I would choose.

As always thank you for reading this and I know that I am blessed to be able to continue to share my love with my friends and family.

Jerry