Denise -
I almost didn't post here because a lot of the women here (at least some of the women who were here back in 2004) have seen my story before - but I think the story of my crash fits well with your request.

Almost exactly three years ago, during National Ride Your Bike to Work Week, I crashed on my way to work. I believe I flipped forward (as in over the handlebars) and my bike followed. I landed on my head. My injuries included a skull fracture and a severe brain injury - and that was with the cushioning of my helmet. I do not believe I would have survived that accident if I hadn't been wearing a helmet.
The story of my crash and recovery is in this article that I posted on crazyguyonabike.com: What do you mean I can't ride my bike?

In case you don't want to read the entire article (or in case you just don't have time:

A description of my accident is on this page: The crash: A couple of missing days.

Some photos of my bloody and cracked helmet can be seen on this page: Please, please, please: Wear your helmet!. And I've also included a picture below.

I crashed on May 20th. The first picture below was taken on May 22nd or 23rd (and I've been told that the non-showing side of my face was actually in worse shape, yuck!). The second one was taken on June 4th. Amazing what some healing time can do...



This helmet definitely did it's job!


Let me know if there's something here that you think could be helpful in your project. The article was written under the assumption that the audience would be adults, but if you can give me some guidelines I would be happy to try to rework a small piece of it for your kids.

--- Denise