My baby is dead...sad day for America...

You know how people say that every time a ___ happens, an angel gets its wings? Well, two months ago my VFR bit the dust and I think an angel died that day...

I loved my 2007 VFR800 Candy Glory Red to death. We went everywhere together. If I had the option to take the bike anywhere, I did. I live in New Orleans, but I covered the entire Southeastern US with my exhaust fumes. I went as far south as Tampa and Orlando and as far north as Maryland and the mason dixon line all on weekend trips and holiday weekends...

I was following suit on Labor Day weekend. My boss told me if I busted my ass the week before, I could have that Friday off, too. So, I did and I took it. My plan for the weekend was to head into Arkansas and enjoy the riding there (which is excellent by the way and about the best you can get as close to NOLA as possible...there's not a single hill in the entire southern part of Louisiana...). I went up through Natchez and planned to hit up the Duck Dynasty headquarters just for fun in Monroe (I have a huge beard now and everyone tells me I should go there). I got through Natchez and stopped for gas. I changed out of my motorcycle pants (with armor) and into some heavy jeans (without armor) and switched out my moto jacket (with armor) for a light sweatshirt (without armor). My plan was to get to the scenic route I had found on some website and then stop for lunch on the side of the road somewhere to eat food I had brought with me. I made it to the beginning of the scenic route in some one horse town called Ferriday, LA and thought to myself, "go ten or twenty more miles, then stop" thinking there would be a nicer view to eat lunch to just up the road a bit...

Well, I may never find that out. About 2 miles later I was riding down the road behind someone (in a two lane, each way situation) when they decided to turn right at an intersection. I decided to move into the left lane to avoid them and then SLAM!!! All I saw was a big white SUV in front of me and then blackout...I woke up in the hospital hours later wondering what had happened. I recalled 2-3 moments waking up out of the blackout. One was the cops asking where my insurance and registration was. I told them it was in the pocket under the seat and they would need the key to take off the seat...then blackout again (btw, they gave me a ticket for not having either because they didn't bother to take the seat off and look for it). Next moment was being shoved in the helicopter and the final one was the helicopter ambulance guy asking me if I took drugs or not...then the hospital. I was airlifted to the worst hospital ever imaginable...it had flies in my room, pee stains all over the bathroom floor and among other things, I am pretty sure one of the nurses was stealing my morphine injections. They also completely misdiagnosed my problems saying it was 6-9 broken ribs (left side), broken hand (right side), cracked eye socket (left) and a hematoma in my left shoulder which was what was causing my entire left arm to not work...that's right...paralyzed left arm...I also couldn't sit up, stand up, walk or do anything really besides lie in bed with one eye closed

After being there for two weeks and having the entire staff be rude to me and my family, doing very minimal work to help me and taking 90 minutes to deliver meds when I asked for them, I managed to get myself into an inpatient rehab. They kept me for another two weeks before releasing me due to the fact that I could walk, shower and poop on my own. But, I went straight to a orthopaedic specialist who did more x rays and saw nothing new. I took those same x rays to a shoulder specialist the next day. He spent 30 seconds looking at them and diagnosed a broken clavicle, a separated AC joint and a broken scapula. It was basically in plain english and I was shocked that the ortho didn't see any of that...but that's the system; not every doctor was head of their class. I've been home now for a month and have full function of my legs, right arm and my face healed up, my ribs (8 of which broke) have just about finished healing up but the shoulder and clavicle aren't quite there yet. The big thing, though is that I have fairly significant nerve damage. I cannot lift my arm, bend my elbow on my own, use my thumb, index or half of my middle fingers. It's basically like having a useless arm that I have to keep in a sling 20 hours a day. Doc says it could be a year or two or more before I have full usage of my arm and if I don't at that point, they would need to permanently fuse my shoulder together...

So I am left a one armed man with no VFR because it was totaled in the crash. Not that I could ride it if I wanted to, but still, it was my baby. It turned out that the SUV was being driven by an 18 year old girl and she failed to yield (aka her fault) at the intersection. 5 weeks after the accident when my lawyer contacted her, she decides to counter sue for injuries even though she was uninjured and refused medical care at the scene. All that really says to me is she didn't want to take responsibility for her actions, which caused another human to be partially paralyzed. We found out recently she has terrible insurance, too (in this state, liability is all that is required to drive) so having her insurance cover some of my bills (which may end up in the $300k area) is probably out of the question. Good thing for me, I have good health insurance through my work and had great motorcycle insurance so my losses financially will be pretty low. But I won't be able to use my arm for maybe a year or so, I won't be able to paint either (I am an artist as a side job) or sell my paintings or a lot of other things...think about how hard everyday life would be if you had to do everything with one hand...showering, drying off, opening bottles (even pill bottles), buttoning pants, tying shoes, driving, typing, etc...it's a complete overhaul to your life and this girl, who has terrible insurance will probably end up with a slap on her wrist because she's 18 and not 17. 18 year olds have no assets to go after and they aren't dependents of their parents anymore...it's a financial black hole of sorts. I would gladly take half her money every week forever, but I don't think they do things like that...her head on a plate may suffice, though...

If my arm ever works again, I will absolutely ride again, but I probably won't do it without my moto jacket (the armor MAY have helped keep me from getting nerve damage, which is median and radial brachial plexus from the trunk of C5 and C6 for those who care) and I probably won't go through Hillbilly, LA ever again to get somewhere else (the air EVAC cost $29,000 to go 58 miles to the nearest trauma center). My helmet may have saved my life as well. It was completely destroyed and my face was only broken because of my prescription glasses being on inside the helmet. I won't ever think twice about not wearing a helmet again...just stupid that people do that...

So, I hope this doesn't deter anyone from riding. It seems to have that effect on my nurses and therapy people. They all say that I have served as a reminder to them to never get on a motorcycle, but this could have happened if I was a cager, too. Who knows how bad T-boning someone in a car would have ended up. I probably saved that girl's life because I was on a bike and not in a car. I still can't believe a) she didn't see me and b) she is suing back...some people these days...

I really hope to be back on a 6th gen VFR again, but while in the hospital, I saw Honda may be making a VFR1200T and ME LIKEY! Especially the airbag option and that it looks pretty badass...

 

All I can say is, holy shit! Glad you’re alive, and that you have a better attitude toward the situation than I would. I never like hearing about other biker’s misfortune, but thank you for sharing your story. I hope you heal up, and are on a bike again soon.

 

Wowzers! Just a shocking story from start to finish.

Glad you are still hear to tell us about. Good luck and heal quickly, fellow rider!

 

:hss: Thanks god it is only the bike.....First read I thought it was a baby :scared:
I am glad you are still with us and able to write the story. :sad:
I wish you the best and speedy recovery :thumbsup:

 

WOW! Glad you at least made it to tell your story. Although not a motorcycle injury, I had nerves severed on my left hand and I lost all feeling in all but my pinky, it took several years for most of the feeling to return and it took a while to get used to the lack of feeling. Just trying to pick up a cup of coffee was difficult, not anywhere near losing usage in a whole arm would be but it was something I thought I would have to live with. I have pretty much full feeling in most of my fingers now but do have a little "numbing" felling on the top part of my hand where I got cut and in a few places on my fore finger, otherwise it feels normal again.

I don't want this to sound like an "I told you so", but hopefully your story will serve as a reminder to us all that it does not matter where you ride, riding with safety gear is something that shouldn't be taken lightly. IMO, your helmet is proof that it can be the difference between life and death. Hopefully you'll heal up quickly and get your full motion and usage/feeling back. I took some time for me, but I did heal up enough to have full use of my hand again. Not sure if it was age or luck that I got the feeling/usage back, but this happened in my teens so maybe a little of both.

Good luck and get well soon!

 

Well, I definitely consider myself lucky in some regards. Not dying in a 40 mph head on crash, having use of all fingers and toes, three limbs work fine now, my wedding tackle is still good to go and I don't have any brain damage. I do, however, have frequent bouts of anger and depression over the whole thing. As nice as I made it sound, I am VERY angry about what happened. That stupid girl may have ruined my life if my arm never works again AND she is counter suing me...what an asshole. But, like I said, I still consider myself lucky. Way worse could have happened and I am still here to tell about it. Some instant gratification is the fact that one of my best buddies who often rides in shorts and sandals said he will never do it again and a few other friends have upped their insurance policies on their vehicles (BTW, Geico has been excellent throughout this...even though their commercials are absolute rubbish).

When you look back at events like this, though, it's hard not to see the good things at some point. The first few weeks were very hard because I could barely get out of bed but now that I am up and about, I can look back and see what great friends and family I have that helped me through all these trials and tribulations and I can also reminisce about the good times I had with my VFR. It's getting harder and harder to be angry the more I heal up. I just hope that chick learned her lesson and decides to pay attention next time she drives a humongous SUV...

 

Oh and I absolutely agree...ATGATT from here on out. No more changing because its hot outside...my helmet DID save my life and I got real lucky I didn't grind on the road otherwise I would have been minced meat with a sweatshirt and jeans being my only protection. I definitely don't see your comment as an "I told you so"

 

Glad you will recover almost to 100%. Nevermind the loss of the material things, but we understand, they are our babies.

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. It's really a very f***ing sh1t thing to happen (the bogus counter-claim from the little b1tch makes my blood boil)! I hope you get full use of your left arm again, and much sooner than the Dr's best expectations.

 

I'm not sure I understand what happened.

You said you moved into an oncoming traffic lane to move around a vehicle because you didn't want to wait for them to make a turn?

Why would you do that?

 

aww man that sucks but I probably speak for everyone here that Im glad that you are here to tell your story. Im also glad that you aren't gunshy about getting back in the saddle. Every once in a while I go to NOLA as my job permits. We should meet up and Ill buy you a beer as a "glad youre still here" to celebrate that fact. At least the Saints are kickin Azz!!

 

You got it EXACTLY right. I like the image, too. Better than any of the pencil sketches I've done on the back of hospital napkins. I was a very conservative rider on the street. I would never have pulled into oncoming traffic like that. The girl definitely screeched out into traffic, too...

 

That would be cool, man. Just let me know by PM or something the next time you're coming through...

 

Ah, ok. I thought you meant two lane (1 each way) and that you hit her "head on", as you said in your post.

Well, no matter. Glad you survived that dreadful scenario. Hope you have a full recovery.

 

Looks like a blind spot-you don't have much time to see the car coming a different direction- a motorcycle might be hard to see in situation, I all ways assume cars can't see me too well. Basically you got screwed up by a shitty driver-. It's too bad you didn't have a chance to brake!

 

Like I said in the first post, I don't have a full recollection of exactly how the accident happened but after piecing together the accident report, eyewitness statements, my broken body and the lasting effects, I think this is what transpired:

I saw the SUV at the intersection because I could see over the car that was turning (aka the girl should have been able to see me). When the car used its turn signal, I used mine too (left signal into left lane). I'm guessing the SUV saw the signals but since mine was on a bike thought that mine may have been a right signal (paying attention is not what she was doing, otherwise this may not have happened). As I moved into the left lane, my attention went to a car coming across the intersection the opposite way of the SUV (I would have only taken my eyes off the SUV and being completely forward if I thought there was no way they would have come out into the intersection. Such as thinking the distance I was from the intersection was way too short for someone to come out into traffic...) and wanted to make sure they didn't leap out or come into the left lane (thinking it was empty) which had just become occupied by me. When my eyes went back forward (this all happened in about a second. It's not like I took my eyes off of being forward to watch some car stopped at an intersection), the SUV was in front of me. That is when I blacked out but looking at the photos of the bike and my injuries, I'm guessing I went for a maneuver to try and swerve out of the way towards the rear of the SUV but didn't make it in the distance allotted. So I may have been able to kick the ass out a bit to the left so that I didn't full on t-bone. The front end clearly took the brunt of it but my body was only really damaged on the left side. I broke 8 ribs and my clavicle, cracked my orbital, injured muscles in my upper leg, had cuts and scrapes on my knee and lower leg, broke my scapula and strained the brachial plexus all on my left side and broke the outer bone on my right hand. The photos of her car look like a couple of big football players slammed into the side of her car from the front tire to the middle of the rear door but the damage was pretty minimal...not sure what speed I hit at (if I was able to brake or slow at all or if I hit at the full 35-40 mpg that I was doing on the road...

So yeah, most of that may be speculating because I definitely suffered a concussion and am pretty foggy about the first couple days after the accident too. I definitely remember the four or five times I woke up during the blackout but there were hours in between some of them.

Like I've said before, I'm lucky to be alive, I'm thankful no one was killed and I didn't suffer anything that can't be fixed really. No brain damage and that's all great. I just wish I had stopped for lunch where I had originally planned...

 

gota be thankful that you are alive my friend, sorry to hear aboot your accident. I got a trauma-hawk ride oot of a local race track to the hospital, here in Palm Beach County, they have a fund to cover expenses through drunk driver funds.

Sorry again to read aboot your pain and suffering, hopefully some monetary compenstation will make you smile a little more. Stay Cool...

 

Really sorry to hear about your accident, glad you are still with us. Hope you make a full recovery, no matter how long it takes.