Friend Down..But Getting Back Up...Slowly

Folks,

Some of you may know Martin Ward, he is a VQ finisher of the past, and the President of Veloce Santiago. He had a pretty bad accident about a week ago, and is doing better. Thought I would share his email, its the first most of us had heard from him.

-Steve


I am sitting here reading your e- mails for the first time since my accident last Sunday and I am overwhelmed by the concern and well wishes they contain. My family and I appreciate so very much your friendship and support during a very trying week. It means the world to me and was a blessing to my shattered spirit and body. A simple thank you is inadequate but it comes from a deep appreciation for the blessings and fellowship God has afforded me by bringing me into relationship with you all. Thank you.

So how are things now? Pretty good really. About this time last week I was strapped to a back board flying in a helicopter to the trauma center at Paso Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. Head on into an Oak tree at 20 + miles an hour resulted in: Broken and rearranged teeth , a broken left hand, three broken ribs, a showy head wound that required surgery and a skull fracture at the joint above the C-1 vertebrae. It was pretty severe. Four nights in ICU that were a blur of noise and pain med induced fog .Two more nights of ICU ,a transfer Friday morning to a regular room and back to the real world late Friday afternoon. Not quite the week of vacation we would have planned but Saturday I was able to walk back into my own house , under my own power ,pet my dog and take the best nap I have ever taken in my entire life. There is no place like home.

I am fit, I am strong and I will recover fully. This week is follow up stuff with my local doc’s to have my hand re-evaluated, stitches out etc. Second opinion on the skull/neck fractures just to be sure but it looks like 8 weeks or so of this stupid brace. I hope to be released to drive and work again by the end of the month. In the meantime you can look for this somewhat haggard but determined guy with a cool scar on his already bald head to be slowly but surely striding down a bike trail near you.

Oh, almost forgot. Here is the profound epiphany that has come my way as a result of all of this. Your mother was wrong. Clean underwear is not the path to an acceptable accident outcome. Gum is. They are going to cut all of your clothes off without regard to there cleanliness (Damn those were my favorite shorts and jersey). The ER also seems to focus more on keeping your head from falling off of your shoulders than they do on personal hygiene. The surgeon only cares that the parts he needs to work on are good. By the time you hit the ICU you do not much care either. You are pretty funky and likely to stay that way for a bit. Hope is found in the most unlikely places. A stick of spearmint will do.

-Martin