A year ago today I almost died. Thanks to the skill of the people at Waterloo Region EMS, Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, and especially Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto I survived a collision with a minivan while out on a routine training ride.
This year has learned me lots. It has learned me not to take anything for granted, including life. It has learned me that my family will pull me through whatever curveballs life may throw me, and I am eternally grateful for that. I know I have many very good friends that will help me and my family whenever needed, no questions asked. I have learned more than I want to know about brain injuries and their effects.
I would like to thank all of you that have supported me after my status updates here, some of which were little more than pointless rants but all of which got empathic replies.
From this year forward September 3rd will be Survival Day. Because I like living.
And to all of you: Keep the rubber side down. But never take anything for granted.
Congratulations. I’m glad you are here too. I’d wager that Sep 3 will probably become more important than your birthday. Might even view it as a “new” birthday (of sorts).
Tailwinds at your back. Rubber side down. Cars in their own lane. The simple, small things. Hope you have them all in spades.
Glad you posted. What did you do today to recognize / celebrate (is that the right word? honor?) the day?
We invited some people that really helped my wife out last year with keeping things somewhat normal for the kids, and I baked a chocolate cake with a truly obscene amount of truly obscenely expensive chocolate (Valrhona) in it, and we had coffee and cake.
I hope that next year I can have a proper party with lots of people and loud music etc, but right now my poor head can’t handle that sort of stimulation yet…
Congratulations. I’m glad you are here too. I’d wager that Sep 3 will probably become more important than your birthday. Might even view it as a “new” birthday (of sorts).
Tailwinds at your back. Rubber side down. Cars in their own lane. The simple, small things. Hope you have them all in spades.
Thanks Jordan.
You’re right about the birthday thing. I met Dev at Tremblant the day before the IM there, and we discussed this very same thing, i.e. the fact that you become a new person after a traumatic event like that. People that help me with my rehab had mentioned it as well, but only when this anniversary came up did I really grasp the reality of that. My real birthday is coming up in a week or two as well, but I probably won’t celebrate that because it only gives me bad memories of last year, when I was in the hospital.
Unfortunately my body doesn’t follow this “new math”, which means that 20 years from now I’ll be racing in 65-70 as opposed to 18-24
Glad you’re still here. Good post to put things in perspective. Same to you, Rappstar. I’ve had my share of bike accidents and hospitalizations but never been within an inch of death so never put a date on an individual incident. That doesn’t surprise me though…after turning 21 birthdays stopped seeming important…Survival Day seems like it would be infinitely more consequential.
