My Mountain Biking Accident

This past week, I experienced a serious accident and I wanted to be the one to let you know what’s going on with me. 

Last Monday, on the evening of July 26th, I had an accident on my mountain bike. I broke and fractured several bones in my neck and back. It required surgery on my neck to fuse together multiple bones and fragments to protect my spinal cord. After spending five nights in the hospital, I returned home Saturday night. 

All of my doctors, nurses and physical therapy experts have been encouraged by the daily progress since the injury.  

I’ve maintained good strength, feeling and sensitivity in all my extremities confirming no permanent spinal cord or nerve damage. A very encouraging sign. 

For at least the next month, I’ll be wearing a neck brace, taking pain pills and muscle relaxers to manage this first phase of the healing and recovery process.   Unfortunately, my discomfort is pretty significant and continuous. 

The experts say everyone recovers differently from injuries like mine but to anticipate 6-12 weeks to heal the bones and 6-12 months to get back into a routine more closely resembling my pre-injury state. With pins and rods in my neck and upper back, it isn’t expected thatI’ll return to 100% but they’re very encouraged that I’ll get close. If you know me, you know I’m shooting for 100%, if not coming out even stronger and better than before the accident. ;-)

My personal desire is to get back to part-time work within a couple of weeks. Only time will tell us how that goes. I’ll keep you posted. 

After my accident, my wife and others contacted several people asking for support in the form of prayers and positive thoughts. A few people turned into dozens praying for me and my health care providers. I know that deep in my soul, God’s hands have been with me, thanks in part to many of these kind people continuing to pray. 

I’ll be writing a more complete version of my experience and include some photos that have been taken along the way. Stay tuned! 

I’ll close by saying that I’m confident this happened to me for some specific reasons. I haven’t fully digested what all of them are yet. I’ve been brought to tears several times in gratitude for how fortunate I am that this outcome wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I've been overcome with emotions in gratitude for the many people who care about me and the many blessings I have in my life. I hope you can also pause and reflect on the many blessings in your life as well.

Stay tuned for updates and the Brian 2.0 version that’ll be emerging from this life changing experience.