freak impalement

yota · May 27, 2002

I was riding Saturday with 4 other guys and we were freighttraining thru
the the woods at Croom when one of the guys caught a broken off branch straight into the eye port of his helmet. The branch was about the diameter of my thumb and it pierced his neck about an inch below his ear and went about 3 inches into his neck. He was helicoptered to St. Joesephs Hospital in Tampa where they removed the branch in surgery. As of today (monday) he is still there but is ok. We spent a few hours in the hospital and saw him after surgery. The doctor told us that the branch missed his carotid artery by a milimeter and he was very lucky. It also could have damaged his wind pipe and vocal cords if it had taken a slightly different path.

We crash through brush all the time without thinking about this. I have some nasty scars on my neck from catching vines and I always wear a peice of old sweat pant leg around my neck as protection from vines now but it wouldn't have helped in this case.

Is this just a freak or has anyone else heard of this happening?

I'm thinking about coming up with some type of kevlar neck wrap with a velcro tab to hold it on. A very freaky day.

By the way, the paramedics and rangers at Croom were fantastic and the doctor and staff at St. Joesephs went out of their way to be helpful and sympathetic. There wasn't a hint of any attitude towards dirt bikers, which I had run into previously at a hospital in Orlando, where I live.

mxmike38 · May 27, 2002

man I hope he is okay. I ride at crooms not as much as I like to. this is off subject to your post but I havent found anywhere to jump out there do you know a spot? or better yet, is there a spot to jump out there.
thanks
mike

Danman · May 27, 2002

I glad to hear he is O.K. The only think that I have heard of close to that is a guy putting a branch through his arm at the enduro we put on. I did not see, but was told about it by an member that his been in the club a long time. He said the guy came into the check with a branch stuck in his bicep. They had to make got to the ambuliance. They said he wanted to finish the race with that branch sticking out of his bicep.

Layton · May 27, 2002

I know a guy that did about the same thing. If I remember right it went in by his eye and came out under his jaw. :(

mote572 · May 27, 2002

Been there myself years ago. When I was 17, I jumped on a friends CR80 and took off for a ride on a trail I had never been on. The only body armor I had on was a helmet, gloves and goggles (young and stupid) I learned the hard way. Anyway, I was about the 4th one back of 6 riders, which the ones in the lead had ridden there before and were going at a pretty good pace. I had the little 80 in 3rd or 4th gear trying to keep up with everyone when I topped a hill there was a small pine tree bent over in the trail waiting for me. It was like running into a javalin, the top 3 foot of the tree broke when I hit it and punctured my left lung missing my heart by less than an inch. Spent a couple of days in the hospital and had two very sore ribs where the tree went through.

Anyway I just wanted to share my experience so maybe younger ones will take the time and wear as much protection as you can. Not to say that will save you, but it sure won't hurt to have all the gear you can. This event kind of got me in my career as a Firefighter/EMT after being carried out on a rescue and then to an ambulance. I'm 31 now and still love riding motorcycles as much as ever, but now I ride with more caution. I ride to have fun now and am not out there to impress anyone. Be safe and remember you can either have fun riding on two wheels or go on 4 wheels by Ambulance.

EnsignB · May 28, 2002

Originally posted by yota
Is this just a freak or has anyone else heard of this happening?

Saw something kind of similar, but no where near as bad. A guy was riding through the woods and his goggles fogged up. He dropped the goggles around his neck, and then caught a branch right above his eye. He was bleeding pretty badly. He didn't have anything at all to deal with the bleeding, so I gave him some of the paper towels I had in my hip bag to apply pressure to try to limit the bleeding. Unfortunately, he said he didn't have health insurance and he wasn't going to mess with going to the hospital. He really needed stitches.

Originally posted by yota
I'm thinking about coming up with some type of kevlar neck wrap with a velcro tab to hold it on.

I played paintball once and some of the guys had this type of protector. I'm not sure where they got it, but it had some pretty serious padding. I did a quick search and could only find neoprene ones that weren't as substantial as what these guys had.

-------
Brandon

IDkTm · May 28, 2002

Last year at an cross country race near here a guy wrecked into a tree and pretty much tore his face off from what I was told. Actuall peeled the skin back on his face. He had to be helicoptered out of the area. He has since sold his bike, but I'm sure will return to the sport some time, his dad has rode the ISDE before so they have riding in their blood. It happened probably less than a mile or two into the race.

The worst thats ever happened to me was taking a branch to the arm, right at the elbow on the top side. It was the first time I had got my KTM out in the woods about a week after I got it. I was just cruising down the trail enjoying life when this branch decided to put a nice gash on my arm, it hurt at the time but now I've got a scar to remember it by.

lawman · May 28, 2002

this almost happened to me once back in the '80's. i got struck in the abdomen on a sharp end on a broken branch about an inch in diameter, but my hallman mach 5 (remember those?) saved me from surely being gored. it scared me pretty bad & made me think about what would have happened w/o the c/p, altho this kind of thing can happen in this sport no matter what gear you wear--don't take motorcycles for granted!

JUSTRIDE415 · May 28, 2002

I have ridden croom and they have SERIOUS brush and other things needed to be picked up. My dad (on a ds 650) shot a stick the broke the fender on my new (at the time) 300ex

yota · May 30, 2002

Thanks guys, I guess its part luck, part timing and I was going to say part being careful but thats just not the name of our game. I guess it was just a bad weekend. Another of my bud's, Jamracing was on an MX track in Georgia just playing around on Memorial Day and severely broke his leg. He is still in the hospital. As far as the comment on cleaning up the brush at Croom, I'm in complete disagreement. Its not a motocross track, its the woods. The more obstacles the better. Thats what makes off road fun and interesting. I've ridden Croom many times with young moto guys who would kill me on a track, but in the woods at high speed a lot of them don't know how to handle the roots, trees and other stuff and after a while you look back and they're gone.

freak impalement

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