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To learn about the INITIAL ACCIDENT, please scroll below or to the bottom of the JOURNAL pages BEFORE MAY 7th to find the updated story with all the listed injuries.
MIKE'S STORY (Updated on June 13, 2023)
Having admired magazine pictures and begged his parents for years, Mike got his first motorcycle at 12 years old. Over the next few decades, he would acquire many more street, track and dirt bikes and enjoy thousands of hours of seat time. Although he can recollect countless near misses and some epic crashes on the race track, he was very proud of the fact that in all those years he never laid a bike down in the street. Unfortunately, all winning streaks come to an end.
On the morning of May 7, 2023, Mike was riding a recently acquired KTM890R down the twisty mountain roads down Montezuma Grade to Borrego Springs, CA with a group of friends. Though the KTM exhibited quick handling, Mike had only ridden the relatively tall, short wheelbase bike a couple times; it was primarily a bike for his son to ride with him whenever visiting California. The bottom line is that Mike was pushing the bike and street tires to their limits to keep up with his fellow adrenaline junkies on pure sport bikes rolling sticky rubber.
A fast left hand sweeper soon challenged the equation of rider, speed, bike handling and tire selection - you don’t always get all four right at once. As Mike was running wide he attempted to stop the bike rather than pull the unfamiliar bike further down through the corner. His track experience with trail braking came in handy, but there’s still only so much pavement on the road. Mike rode the bike off the asphalt onto the wide, sandy shoulder before setting it down and stepping over the bars to tumble down the embankment. Unfortunately, the bike retained enough momentum to carry it over the edge, where it fell approximately 20’ before landing precisely on top of Mike’s abdomen.
One continued riding to the next stop about 4 miles ahead, while the other stopped to investigate at the crash location and climbed down the embankment to Mike's side. He was able to lift the bike off Mike as he was struggling to breathe. When the other rider found that Mike was missing at the next stop, he and the others returned to the place where he saw the puff of dirt. Two of them climbed down to Mike’s side.
They asked him, “Do you know your name? Where do you feel pain? Can you move or feel your legs?” And he said, “Yes, I’m Mike. My wrist hurts, my shoulder is in pain and also my abdomen.” He kept on repeating himself by saying, “Where am I? What happened? What motorcycle was I riding? Did I crash? I haven’t crashed on the street in many, many years.” They kept continually answering his questions. His eyes were dilated, too. Both are signs of a concussion.
They reassured him and kept him laying down on the ground. He insisted that he could just ride his bike out of there. He did not want them to call the police or get airlifted to the hospital. The paramedics/fire department arrived. He didn't want the paramedics to cut his jacket and offered to stand up so they could slide it off his shoulders from the back. Needless to say, they cut his jacket.
They checked him over. They noticed that his hands were too pale and were worried about internal bleeding. Paramedics asked him a few questions like, “What is your name? What’s your date of birth?” Mike was able to respond to those questions accurately. Paramedics reassured him that in an accident like this and with Mike’s symptoms, they have no choice but to airlift him to the hospital.
They strapped him to a board and with the help of paramedics and friends, they were able to take him uphill on the road into the ambulance. Paramedics drove the ambulance to where the helicopter landed that took him to the hospital ER.
Mike sustained multiple orthopedic and internal injuries, several life-threatening, caused by severe blunt force trauma from the 365-pound motorcycle landing on top of him after falling 20-30 feet. His life was spared because of the excellent care he received from medical personnel and because he is physically healthy. If he had not been healthy, he would not be with us today.
Mike will need to remain in California for 2-3 months for treatment and rehab. He will not be able to be transferred back home to Washington because of the blunt force trauma sustained to his body.
This is a summary of his injuries and how they've been treated thus far.
BONES:: - Fractures of ribs 3-10 on the left side, which will heal on their own - Fractures of the transverse process of two vertebrae, L2 & L3 (low back), which will also heal on their own - Fracture of the tibial plateau (the very top of the lower leg bone, where it forms the knee joint). Had surgery 5/17 to fixate with a plate and screws. - Fracture of the radius (lower arm bone on the thumb side). Had surgery on 5/17 to insert a plate and screws. - Fracture of the ulna styloid (the tip near the wrist joint on the little finger side), which will heal on its own.
INTERNAL INJURIES: - Heart, blunt force damage/bruising, pariocardio window placement & exploratory surgery - Lungs, blunt force damage/bruising - Pancreas, some damage, will monitor, will heal on its own - Liver lacerations, packed for a few days to stop bleeding, will complete healing on own - Torn superior mesenteric artery, the blood vessel which supplies blood to the large intestine. This caused significant blood loss. Surgery on 5/7 and multiple blood transfusions. - Large intestine crush/tear injury - ascending and start of transverse colon were removed to stop/prevent further hemorrhaging. They will try to reattach remaining large intestine to the small intestine in 6-18 months. The doc said there are people that live just fine with 50% of large intestine, and Mike has about 75% remaining. - Spleen laceration - had surgery 5/16 and continuing to monitor - Right kidney hematoma (a bleed in the kidney) and Acute Kidney Failure (usually temporary) caused by initial low blood pressure due to loss of blood. The kidneys manage fluid, electrolytes and acid and clean the blood. Since Mike hasn't had any kidney issues and he's healthy, his kidneys will likely recover fine, but it may take days to months. He is having daily dialysis to clean the blood until the kidneys recover.
So far Mike has had a total of 7 surgeries to stop the bleeding of his organs and to repair damage to bones, several procedures as well as an exploratory surgery to allow fluid to drain away from his heart.
If you haven't read his updated story, you'll find it on his home page or the very first journal page before May 7th (all the way at the bottom).
After 47 days, we are home and are still adjusting to a new normal. The "hospital" room is now set up in the living room with lots of visitor seating.
Visitors and calls are welcome!
My mom has come to help me. Thanks mom! We had a lot of visitors these past two days and it was wonderful to see all of you: Lance&Mariana, Jason&Dayna, Ron (his dad), Zain and Curt. Thanks for stopping by! It really lifts his spirit! ❤️
DIET, low-fiber, low potassium, and a list of items. After losing 40 pounds, he needs to bulk up a bit so really anything goes. The medicines pumped into him at the hospital have not totally gone away so he can't taste/smell normally.
Tomorrow I hope to arrange follow up visits at Evergreen Hospital for orthopedics, kidneys, blood and everything else. It has been hard because he needs to see someone in two weeks and people are booked out months in advance.
He is slowly healing in all these areas: his taste/smell is still not normal, muscles, lungs/breathing, vocal cords, knee, wrist, liver, heart, spleen, pancreas, etc.
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