Trauma Survivors Network - provided by ATS

Bicycles, Night and Glaucoma

I had all the confidence in the world. That was six months ago. Somehow the designated bicycle path that I was dutifully riding on vanished beneath me. I remember shooting through a gap in a line of bushes unaware that I was off course. Then I was going off a wall, too late to apply brakes, too late to do much of anything, I was falling and I could not see how far, I could not see the bottom. I think I tried to roll, I think I tried to curl, but it was hard not knowing where the ground was. The impact came suddenly and hard. My right arm took the first impact, then the back of my head and my right shoulder. I rolled flat onto my back. I called my wife and told her what had happened. She asked me if I could get up and I said “no”. Someone took the phone away from me and called 911. I was taken to a Level One trauma center on the upper west side of Manhattan near to where I live. I broke a bunch of bones and punctured my right lung, but worst of all, I had broken my back, my Thoracic 4 Vertebrae.

Reply: Bicycles, Night and Glaucoma

The hospital is ST. Luke’s, now part of Mount Sinai. ST. Luke’s is a Level One Trauma Center in New York City located near to Columbia University and Saint John’s Cathedral. The emergency room entrance is at 113 Th. street and Amsterdam Avenue. They have a very large fully staffed emergency room and they are equipped and trained to handle gun shot wounds, stabbing, heart attacks, and elderly people like me out riding their bicycles at night in Central Park near by. Because I had crushed my T4 Vertebrae, it was very difficult to move me for fear of causing paralysis. The doctors very carefully discussed my case and how to proceed. I appreciate that they let me know at each step in the discussion what they were thinking and what problems they were trying to solve. Back surgery has a high rate of morbidity which they were kind enough to point out right from the beginning. I liked that they worked as a team and that they allowed me to feel part of that team. I left the hospital ten days later wearing a custom made full body brace. I am doing well six months later. I have not gone near a bicycle.

Reply: Bicycles, Night and Glaucoma

Jonathan,
Thanks for sharing your story of your survival!

Katy