I might have saved a life...

[azfiddle]

Last Saturday, my DH was riding in a 95 mile event in Douglas, AZ. I didn't participate because it was mostly for faster cyclists than me. So I was out on the course with my car, passing out bottles to friends half way through. After they had all passed me, I started following the course back to the start/finish.

As a drove along the course, I passed a cyclist sitting on the side of the road, with his bike on the ground. It looked odd, so I stopped, went back and asked him if was okay. Moments later, we were joined by one of the bike patrol on the route. The rider was a little slow in his responses, although he was coherent, and accepted a ride back. He answered questions, though he didn't really initiate much conversation, but he did tell me he had been in bike-car accident earlier in the week, which had destroyed his helmet.

I brought him back to the finish and found an EMT from the Border Patrol to check him out. The EMT called an ambulance crew- although the guy seemed to check out okay physically, they encouraged him to go to a hospital for evaluation. After all was said and done, they airlifted him to Tucson. Sunday I was able to contact his friend who told me he had been checked in to the hospital and had undergone surgery for a subdeural hematoma on Sunday morning (from the accident earlier in the week). Fortunately, he will be okay. He called me yesterday to thank me, and he sounded much better, but he has 19 staples in his head.

I was so glad

[emily_in_nc]

Woah...that is pretty intense. Good for you for following your instincts and checking on him, azfiddle. Sounds like he really needed the help!

[OakLeaf]

Wow. Good for you. Hope he makes a full recovery.

[Bike Writer]

One person taking the time to be concerned is the difference between life and death, congtrats to you for being a good Samaratian. I bet the patient is happy to have had you come along.

[zoom-zoom]

Wow...he's so lucky you happened to be right there at the right time. I'm glad his story has a happy ending.

[lph]

Whoah!! Well done, azfiddle, you did a good thing. Good for you for not letting him go.

[Cynedra]

Way to go. You are awesome. I generally try to make sure riders are okay if I see one stopped, but don't know if I would question too much if they said they were okay.

[Jiffer]

Wow, that's pretty crazy! You must feel good that you were able to get him to the help he needed. You just never know in those situations. I've been involved with two incidents of people getting a concussion after passing out briefly, one in a bike accident and one a snowboarding accident. With both they did the whole nine yards of the ambulance and the tests "just to be safe", and that's really all it was because both people were ultimately fine. But then there are those times when "just to be safe" reveals something pretty major, like in your case.

Yay for you that you were there and took the time to ask if he was okay.