Deaf Biker's Unexpected Accident
By Harry Barnum
After Deaf Way II on Monday July 15th
while riding my 1997 shadow LXV 600cc motorcycle in Burtonsville, MD, a car,
which was between rt.- 198 west and rt.- 29 hit me.
I was driving straight ahead when the
white Honda 1990 car crossed the road with a left turn right in front of me. I
tried to squeeze my brake hard and I did push the horn but it was too
late. I hit her car on the right side
of the wheel and went tumbling over her hood. I bounced on the hood and the
landed on the other side of the car.
God was watching over me because the
first person, a military man who came over to me, told me to stay still until
the ambulance, the police, the fire trucks arrived. When the white Honda woman
looked at me, I looked to at her and I said "WRONG YOU", but she did
know then she was afraid of me. My head and body looked fine and I did not
faint or blackout but I saw that my right arm was dislocated and my back felt
sore.
When the ambulance arrived, they were
going to take me to the elementary school to put me in a helicopter to fly me
to Maryland University hospital in Baltimore, Md. But the ambulance wouldn't
start so it was decided that the helicopter pilot would land at the accident
scene to pick up me. The police at the scene were afraid because there were so
many phone wires and he thought the helicopter would crash. The helicopter
landed successfully and they brought me to the helicopter. God guided the pilot to land in the middle
of the road with no problem, wow. I was flown by helicopter to the Shock and
Trauma Unit at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. I was looking
around and smiling because I was riding a real helicopter.
There the doctors found that I had a
dislocated elbow and my pelvis was spilt in two places. I was also bleeding
internally and needed emergency surgery to avoid bleeding to death. JoAnne was
rushed to the hospital as soon she got word of "Harry's accident". The
ER doctors told her I would not walk for a long time. She thought I couldn't
walk again. God guided the surgeon's
hands to insert a metal plate on the top of the two fractured parts of my
pelvis and then screwed it into the bone. Then they were able to stop the bleeding.
I stayed in the ICU until Friday, July 19th. I moved to Kessler
Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville.
At the ICU, I woke up and looked around
the ICU room on Wednesday 17th, July. I was suffering pain from all
parts of my body but I felt nothing from my right leg. It felt like a dead leg
or a missing leg because I could not move my leg. I was unhappy because they
pumped a lot of medicine and chemicals into my body. When I woke up finally on Thursday, I was surprised that I still
could not move my leg. I had to force myself to exercise my right leg. My leg
was very difficult to move. I had to keep a very patient attitude.
When I moved to Kessler Adventist
Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville, MD, I had to go to physical therapy for
my right leg for 2 weeks. The Kessler doctor said that I would be in the
hospital for a month until I learned how to walk again. It was hard to learn
how to walk because my body would lose its balance. It looked like a baby's
walk, but I was stubborn and practiced walking 3 hours every week. I improved
my walking, PAH! Until On Monday July
22nd, JoAnne arrived to visit me at the Kessler and I wanted to show
her what I could do. I stood up from my
wheelchair, walked over to JoAnne on the side of my bed and gave her a smack.
She was shocked. She couldn’t believe I
was walking! It was a miracle! Some people still couldn’t believe that I
can walk. But I stayed at Kessler for
only one more week and then went home on Saturday, July 27th.
After 1 day, I surprised everyone at
FBDC by coming to church. I also
surprised my friends at EDB, Deaf Way II, and Gallaudet University when I
walked in and said Hello, just like as if nothing had happened.
I continued to improve. I am going to physical therapy and
continue to get a little better each day.