Date of Accident: September 17, 2003
It was a pleasant fall morning on September 17, 2003. My day started pretty normal as I awoke, worked out, and got ready for work. You don�t get the chance to ride your Hog in nice September weather in Wisconsin so I was really looking forward to my ride to work into Green Bay. I love riding my Harley-Davidson Fat Boy and I do not wear a helmet. I believe motorcycle riding is a safe sport as long as you behave and other people driving the vehicles pay attention and don�t run you down.
I enjoyed my morning ride to work until I arrived at the intersection of the on/off ramps where Hazelwood meets the Highway 41 overpass. I had the green light and proceeded to drive through the intersection. A driver in an oncoming car wasn�t acting responsibly and paying attention to the traffic, which wasn�t very heavy since it was 6:00 a.m. He didn�t see me and turned left right in front of me. Naturally, this was not good news for me or my bike.
He forced me to collide into the side of his vehicle. I was catapulted over the vehicle and landed on the pavement on the other side. My injuries would have been less severe but my body hit the vehicle before I was launched over the top of it. This part of the accident dealt me some very severe injuries. A TBI (traumatic brain injury) was just the beginning. My left arm was paralyzed because all the nerves for it were torn out of my spine; my left jaw was shattered along with my face around the nose, eye
sockets, and cheek bones. I lost sight in my right eye due to damage to its optic nerve. I had a crushed lower left leg, a broken collar bone, both shoulder blades were cracked, a punctured lung, broken ribs, my pelvis was fractured in two places, and several vertebrae were fractured in my neck. I needed 16 units of blood my first day in the hospital just to stay alive. I was in the hospital for 3 months and forced into years of continual rehabilitation and recovery, traveling the country in search of
specialists and surgeries that could help bring all my limbs and body back to original condition. Nothing could be done about the TBI; you have to learn to function with it, there�s no magic pill to heal this injury. These injuries have made me dependent on others for day-to-day living. I will finally recover enough to live by myself in my own home after 3-1/2 years.
I have had surgeries at the Mayo Clinic, Duke University Hospital in North Carolina and several surgeries with Houston�s Texas Nerve and Paralysis Institute. I still have difficulty walking regularly without a cane and my left arm and hand are still paralyzed. I have faith that these conditions are temporary, lengthy but temporary.
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