Andrew,
Chris looks remarkably fit after such an experience. Here's hoping the next
week brings similar progress. We will keep both Chris and Ben in our
positive thoughts!
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Fildes" <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2012 4:26 AM
Subject: Re: [OM] (OT) Need that Positive Energy Again
> Good luck. My experience in the last week has been positive so I hope it
> rubs off.
> Must be a #2 son thing.
> After nine years of riding 42km per day (26 miles) to and from work, my
> second son Chris was hit by a delivery van on Friday afternoon 8 days ago.
> The screen in the emergency room displayed a grim brevity - 'Cyclist vs.
> Truck - high speed'. The impact was a straight 80kph (50mph) from behind.
> He was quite astonishingly lucky - four broken ribs and a punctured lung,
> three cracked vertebrae and a lot of scrapes. Helmets are compulsory here,
> thank goodness. But head-butting the scenery at that speed has
> implications - in this case some contusions of the forebrain. He was
> agitated and confused going into intensive care and lost three days
> memory. His post traumatic amnesia is classified as severe but he seems to
> be coming out of it very well. His level of fitness is extremely high and
> that may have saved him. In fact he rather annoyed them in the intensive
> care unit by getting up and going for a stroll. Being confused, he tended
> to get lost.
> Last weekend was possibly the worst of my life. I feel like we've dodged a
> very large bullet indeed. I'm still a bit shaky thinking about it. He's
> now in a rehab centre and because of his earlier tendency to wander,
> they've put in a locked, high dependency ward for a few days at first. I
> hope he takes time to take a close look at the others in there - the
> serious brain injury patients. And thinks what might have been. He should
> be over the short term memory problem quite soon. I hope.
> One of the best things I did was to take a few pix each day - #1 son in
> the UK said he thought it was in bad taste but was seriously relieved when
> he saw the smile on day three and promptly posted it on his Facebook wall.
> Small gallery here -
> http://www.pbase.com/afildes/chrishospital
>
> We live in a semi-rural area but the police were there in five, the
> paramedics in eight and he was inside one of the best trauma units in the
> country in 80 minutes - and it's nearly 50k away. Any further out or any
> sicker and they'd have used a helo. Car registration here is quite
> expensive because it includes compulsory accident insurance - all medical
> costs are covered and they'll pay him 80% of his average pay for the
> forseeable future, even if you're a cyclist or pedestrian. It's a decent
> system. There were nice touches like the paramedics waiting to talk to us
> at the emergency bay about the circumstances. They were quite surprised
> that he survived at all.
>
> Oh - and yes, the driver stopped. He's has been charged. Careless driving
> occasioning GBH. He'd driven for four hours across the state without a
> break and didn't see him. The cop I spoke to later was a little
> underimpressed by that.
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> On 21/01/2012, at 4:40 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
>
>> Well, once again the call goes out for prayers, positive energy, good
>> thoughts, etc., for No. 2 Son, Benjamin, who will be admitted to the
>> Maine Medical Center on Sunday, and on Monday will undergo an aerobic
>> valve replacement.
>
> --
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