ndf (nath) was hit by a car while out on a ride in Gold Coast, he is very badly injured with many broken bones throughout his body. He is being transported from Gold Coast up to Brisbane to undergo surgery as we speak. The actual details of the accident we are unsure, but as we find out details will let individuals know.
We do know, he has a very long road to recovery…
I don’t know much more, but you can get me on my mobile +61 409 213 682.
This news has hit me hard, very hard. SO with that in mind, please be very damm careful on the roads.
I was trying to put a post up about this, but the forum software kept timing out.
It’s terrible to hear of any cyclist being hit, but so much worse when it’s someone you know and ride with.
For those of you that haven’t met him, here’s a face to put to the name, a self portrait on the train back from Ipswich: (not a great shot, but all I have to hand)
It’s been a bad week for cyclists, this follows another fatal hit&run last Sunday on the Gold Coast and a fatal bike-truck collision in Melbourne last Friday.
Everyone watch out. They may not be trying to kill you, but they’re just not paying attention.
A couple of quick SMS updates via Rhino below. If you guys in Melbourne want to get a card (or engrave a polished CTA cog?) or whatever, contact me on ahblake at gmail dot com or 0410 345679 and I’ll make sure it gets to him ASAP.
Blakey.
----6th May 7pm----
Nath had exploratory surgery today to assess the nerve damage and neck fracture. They are now working on a plan, expect more surgery tomorrow to start repair. Positive sign. Morphine was increased, and he is still connected with a tube to assist breathing. No real change, will update same time tomorrow.
----7th May 7pm----
Nath has progresses slightly for the better, out of ICU and into the orthopedic unit. Breathing tube is out. Neck still concern. More surgery tomorrow to clean wounds and maybe start nerve repair. Still a long way for him, but today was a good sign. Can visit him on wed. Will update you all tomorrow.
While a number of you may have already heard, Nathan was involved in a serious cyclng accident Wednesday evening, his own fixxed ride. He was initially treated at the Gold Coast hospital in Queensland to rejoin a severed artery in his arm, and has now been transferred to Princess Alexandria Hospital ICU in Brisbane. His injuries while serious and extensive (both arms broken, left knee a mess, C7 verterbrae in his neck, skin and muscle loss, nerve and artery in left are) are not life threatening. One of the main concerns at this moment is the fracture in his neck which is still unstable, the surgeons believe that it is operable/or may self correct with a halo brace. He does have movement in all limbs . The other serious concern at this time is the extent of injury to his left arm which will require major nerve surgery, skin graft and extensive rehab. He has a number of other lesser injuries which will all be treated in a priority order, and he is scheduled for more exploratory surgery later today (Monday) to better understand the extent of damage to his left arm. He is fully conscious but heavily drugged, he is not able to talk due to assisted breathing and feeding tubes which have been left in as a precaution until his neck injury has been stabilised.
I got word late last night that his breathing tubes have been taken out, which is a positive sign. The doctors are hopful, being that he is so fit, that it will encourage repair of his body. Amazingly he got out of ICU and was placed into the orthopedic unit. The re-built artery has good flow, which is also positive news.
To provide the limited information we have. At around 5:30/6:00 pm on Wed May 3rd Nath was hit by a car on the Southport/Nerang Road. It seems the car driver acted responsibly following the impact. (Hit-and-run has a high profile following the death of a cyclist on the Gold Coast a week earlier!) The police have detail of the car and driver involved, further action may be pending. We do not, and may never, have full details of the incident.
More importantly we wish him a speedy recovery.
Given the time of day, lighting and visibility cannot be excluded from the likely contributors. As other posts a message to us all is to ensure that our own lighting is the best we can specify. I am an offender here and am upgrading to meet both night and “backlit” (daybreak commute into the rising sun) circumstances.
For locals in Brisbane, one of our LBS is offering their recommended package of Cateye 510 front and Blackburn Mars 3.0 rear as a package for $120.00, PM me for details. Deals are available on eBay and the Web, high end lighting suddenly starts to look affordable under these circumstances.
Availablity of blood and blood products is critical to the management of trauma cases like Nath’s. If you are not already a blood donor give serious thought to it. Many of us will need transfusion at some stage and relatively few donate.
Ride smart; ride safe … as Blakey put it so well … “They may not be trying to kill you, but they’re just not paying attention.”
I’m glad the driver wasn’t a gutless wonder. People do make mistakes, taking responsibility shows the measure of a man.
Even though it doesn’t make up for the damage caused to himself and his bike I hope Nath gets full and generous compensation for any and all medical/rehab/equipment costs.
Nath is scheduled in for an mri scan tonight to assess his neck. Nerves to be connected tomorrow. Had skin grafts and plastic surgery today. We can visit basically from tomorrow night onwards. His parents are great and would appreciate the visit also. He is one tough bugger, thats for sure…
From the PA website:
Visiting Hours
Weekdays:
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
and
4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Just another update with Nath, he now has been able to ‘wiggle’ all the four limbs in his body. True to naths style, he has tried to ‘self-ween’ himself of morphine…not sure why. This is a positive amoungst the other negative, his neck. The doctors are still trying to establish the best method of repair.
I never knew until this morning, just how much blood nath lost on the side of the road, close to 1.5 litres…his surgery last night went well, with more skin grafts being succesful.
The only real negative, is that they look like only being able to repair 2 of the 3 nerves in his left arm, which will restrict some movement (like twsiting a throttle)…lucky for him his bikes don’t have gears!!!
Sadly, nath will leave Brisbane and head down to Melbourne to live, as he will have the care of his family. EXPECT the boy to ride with the melburn fixie crew before the end of year. YES, all signs look like he will ride agian.
I have been so busy that I have not had time to check on the forum for a while.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Nath on his road to recovery.
Blakely E-mailed me today asking about a polished cog for Nath as a 'get well" gift from the fixed community(that is how I learned about Nath). I will donate a cog to the cause, I do not know a good engraver so I may let that up to someone else. Let me know what tooth cog is appropriate and where to send it. I am sure I can source an engraver if no one else has any sources.
I also don’t know any engravers except the ones who do hipflasks and pens in shopping centres. (there’s one at Indooroopilly that does have a CNC type, not just freehand, but not sure if it can do hard stuff well or now, I’ll call them today and also check out the yellow pages for some others.)
I figure the engraving should be fairly heavy/bold, so it’s readable after some chain wear. Plus these cogs are hard, (49 Rc right?) so freehand engraving would be tough.
Questions to be answered
What message, suggestions? Instead of “get well” how about a double meaning: “Get fixed soon from fixed.org.au”
Where to get it engraved & how much? Anyone in Brisbane know a good place?
Not really necessary, but does anyone have a velvet medal box or similar to present/keep it in?
Tooth count? He was riding a 17t and loving it before the incident, so I figure that’s a good way to go.
$/person. I think $5/10 each should cover the postage/engraving/card/etc, any ideas?
I’m happy to handle donations and all that jazz, PM me for bank a/c details. If there’s any money left over I’ll get him some good coffee from my pusher (www.coffeeco.com.au) so he can wean himself off morphine and back onto caffeine.
I tried to visit yesterday, after being given the go ahead over the phone by the nurse in his ward, but when I arrived and was sent to three different wards I finally discovered he was in theatre (nerve reattachment). The nurse rang me at 830pm to tell me he was stable, but in the ICU for monitoring, and should be fine for visitors this afternoon (Thurs).
I’ll have to dig it out, but I reckon I have a velvet medal box.
Hope I didn’t chuck it in the recent move.
I’ve also just remembered I know a great engraver in teh Block Arcade in Melbourne. They handle trophies etc. I’ll try and drop in and ask them whether they can handle stainless steel. They would also have medal cases if I can’t find mine.
I havn’t get a 17 tooth cog. Could someone measure the diametre for me please.
