Man Down on Old Mine Road

Sunday morning; Worthington State Forest.

He was on his face in the middle of the road when I first saw him, his body sprawled at a crooked angle beside his bike. Helmet askew, he was not moving, there was a small pool of blood near his head and I thought for a second he was dead.

His right eye was open, staring unfocused and blankly ahead. Then a blink and a spark of life and the eye began to clear, he lifted his head a bit as his brain seemed to reboot and to make sense of what was happening.

“Mister, can you hear me?” I shout! ”I’m getting help. Hang in there. Don’t move.” He seems to hear the sounds, but not the words.

          We were deep in Worthington State Forest on Old Mine Road last Sunday morning when he wrecked his bike and I found him unconscious on the road. He was halfway through a 20-mile bike ride and I was driving to the trail for a hike up to Sunfish Pond.

I ran to my truck to find a phone and put on the flashers. The road is deserted and, I think, “this just happened, and this man is badly hurt!”

          I fight to breathe and process the scene. I offer a silent plea – “Father, you brought me to this place right now. Please help me” – while telling myself. “OK, come on man, you’re a ridgerunner and you are trained for this. You can do this.”)

          He sits up, but does not speak. Remembering my wilderness first aide training, I keep trying to make contact while looking for injuries. – “Can you hear me? What is your name?”

Confused, he struggles for words that won’t come.

Finally. “Dale.”

I call Trenton Dispatch for a policeman and an ambulance. I keep talking to Dale while playing traffic cop for passing rubber-neckers and also sharing information with Dispatch.

“Dale, can you tell me what happened? What day is it?”

          “Trying to get my bearings,” he says.

         

A trauma nurse stops to help and park police arrive a few minutes before the ambulance.

Medics arrive and bandage his head, secure his right shoulder and put him on a gurney for the ride to the hospital.  The helmet probably saved his life, but the impact also shaved off part of his left ear.

I found Dale and called Dispatch at 9:06 a.m. He was on his way to the hospital by 10 o’clock.

I was hiking again by noon, giving thanks for a happy ending.

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