Trackho
New member
As most of us are aware of, Eric Arnold, AFM #235 was badly injured in the Open SuperBike race a few weeks ago (April 26th). He does have health insurance, so that is the good news, the bad news is that the extent of his injuries is quite serious and he can easily blow through the limits of his policies. I guess its the nature of these traumatic spinal injuries.
The accident/race incident/whatever: Eric was on row 4, P15 in the OSB race, we both decided to do BW to get decent gridding at Infineoen--it worked. I was gridded a few rows in front of Eric, so I didnt know anything happened until he didnt show up in T7 when they were holding us.
Eric got knocked down on the start and his body - namely his lower back - was run over by 500lbs of bike/rider at speed. It was a racing incident, Eric has NO hard feelings towards any other racers or the AFM, he actually insisted on speaking to Barb about 5 days after the incident and 2 days after 16 hours of surgery to reassure her he had no ill feeeling towrds her or the AFM ie they were "cool".
His Injuries: Although his spinal cord is NOT severed, his vertebrae, L1, T12, T12 were basically pulverized from the impact of the racebike tire(s) and left his spinal cord severly "compressed". The neurosurgeon said he'd never seen anything as intense as Erics spinal injury--and the Doc is working at a major tramua center and has seen alot.
Eric has no feeling or sensation/strength from approximately his navel down. His tailbone also svered his cerical(??) artery (ass artery) and thas why he lost 4 units of blood at the scene. He said, while laying on the ground, he felt the MOST intense pain he has very felt, his legs felt like they were on fire, before they went numb. He tore up some ribs and punctured a lung as well, all too common in "race incidents".
His Recovery: Unfortunately, according to the nuerosurgical "experts" there is a very low probability that Eric will ever walk again, but miracles DO happen, and anyone that knows Eric knows how hard he will work for one.
He is currently at Valley Med, but it seems two month rehab stint there will be delayed for two more months, as his ass-artery surgery didnt heal as planned, and rehab requires alot of sittin/dragging ass--not so good with an open wound and NO feeling. So it looks like he'll be going to a recovery nursing home for two month whilst his ass surgery heals--hopefully it will be in Los Gatos, close to me, many of his friends.
Then its back to Valley Med for 2 months of intense physical rehab learning to get in/out of a wheel chair,chair, bed, shower, etc-- time his bowel/bladder movements all that fun stuff.
Then he will probably be staying with me and my family (the wife is a stay at home mom for my two daughters-kate-3, Samantha-1) and/or one of his other close buddies in the Campbell/Los Gatos Area. this is good as its the core of his support group. Hopefully somewhere along the line he will become mobile in his wheelchair and hand controlled vehicle. and go back to work in IT.
So many have asked "What they can do to help?"
Visiting was very limited until now as there was a very real fear of a serious infection, and Eric was heavily sedated. That has now changed dramatically Eric is still on oral pain meds, but relatively light compared to the constant drip morphine he was on at Santa Rosa. He is very alert/chatty and basically the same old Eric--Me and our friend Kathy visited him for about 4 hours tonight. heres some of his thoughts:
1) He thinks my new bootz are really gay(see below) and think sI should be prohibited from Helimot whilst on pain meds (doesnt say that on the bottle--yeah I walked to Helimots--pffft)--right Dave, Craig, Chris??....
2) He fully understands and accepts that his life has changed dramatically--he wants to get as healed as he can and learn how to cope and contribute--the accceptance will be a process and will be fraught with hope, disappointment, frustration and a bunch of other stuff.
3) In his words he needs "to prepare for the worst and hope for the best" and he will work his ass of for any minor miracle
4) He is still alot more concerned about others than himself--same old Eric
5) In the past only gave help and never wanted/asked for it. Now he knows hes going to need to accept it, for Eric: its humbling--but its also very good for him to let friends/fellow racers/colleauges demonstrate their love/appreciation for him
6) Ive learned a while ago, that doing the giving really puts "the giver" in touch with what lifes all about and whats important and whats not. Same thing that makes us "crazy racers" to tightly bound to one another. Outsiders dont get it--must suck
So Again What Can We Do??
So by approximately this Monday, May 18th
1) When he gets settled in the "nursing home" (hopefully in Los Gatos) come see him--Ill provide the address when I get it
2) Call him if you have his cell number, if you need it and it makes sense, PM me
3) I'll also post the address for cards/other
And finally (you all knew "this" was coming)--Any financial assistance via his paypal account ericarnoldrecoveryfund@gmail.com would be greatly appreciated.
Cash or cheques (made out to The EA235 Fund) can be given to myself, Kathy Kuwaye, Sveta, Lance Kiegwin and they will work their way into his recovery fund. Just think how much good race karma you can bank, I know I need a bunch.
Eric is basically living thru most of our worst fears as racers, husbands, fathers, etc. He will be posting progress reports here on the BARF RC as he feels it will be of interest--we can all get really in touch with our deepest fears--which usually aint that big of a deal once outside our heads. Regardless, he will keep in touch with us all as soon as we get him hooked up with a PC (prolly two days)
Thanks for listening..see ghey boots at bottom--they kind of match my bruised ass.
The accident/race incident/whatever: Eric was on row 4, P15 in the OSB race, we both decided to do BW to get decent gridding at Infineoen--it worked. I was gridded a few rows in front of Eric, so I didnt know anything happened until he didnt show up in T7 when they were holding us.
Eric got knocked down on the start and his body - namely his lower back - was run over by 500lbs of bike/rider at speed. It was a racing incident, Eric has NO hard feelings towards any other racers or the AFM, he actually insisted on speaking to Barb about 5 days after the incident and 2 days after 16 hours of surgery to reassure her he had no ill feeeling towrds her or the AFM ie they were "cool".
His Injuries: Although his spinal cord is NOT severed, his vertebrae, L1, T12, T12 were basically pulverized from the impact of the racebike tire(s) and left his spinal cord severly "compressed". The neurosurgeon said he'd never seen anything as intense as Erics spinal injury--and the Doc is working at a major tramua center and has seen alot.
Eric has no feeling or sensation/strength from approximately his navel down. His tailbone also svered his cerical(??) artery (ass artery) and thas why he lost 4 units of blood at the scene. He said, while laying on the ground, he felt the MOST intense pain he has very felt, his legs felt like they were on fire, before they went numb. He tore up some ribs and punctured a lung as well, all too common in "race incidents".
His Recovery: Unfortunately, according to the nuerosurgical "experts" there is a very low probability that Eric will ever walk again, but miracles DO happen, and anyone that knows Eric knows how hard he will work for one.
He is currently at Valley Med, but it seems two month rehab stint there will be delayed for two more months, as his ass-artery surgery didnt heal as planned, and rehab requires alot of sittin/dragging ass--not so good with an open wound and NO feeling. So it looks like he'll be going to a recovery nursing home for two month whilst his ass surgery heals--hopefully it will be in Los Gatos, close to me, many of his friends.
Then its back to Valley Med for 2 months of intense physical rehab learning to get in/out of a wheel chair,chair, bed, shower, etc-- time his bowel/bladder movements all that fun stuff.
Then he will probably be staying with me and my family (the wife is a stay at home mom for my two daughters-kate-3, Samantha-1) and/or one of his other close buddies in the Campbell/Los Gatos Area. this is good as its the core of his support group. Hopefully somewhere along the line he will become mobile in his wheelchair and hand controlled vehicle. and go back to work in IT.
So many have asked "What they can do to help?"
Visiting was very limited until now as there was a very real fear of a serious infection, and Eric was heavily sedated. That has now changed dramatically Eric is still on oral pain meds, but relatively light compared to the constant drip morphine he was on at Santa Rosa. He is very alert/chatty and basically the same old Eric--Me and our friend Kathy visited him for about 4 hours tonight. heres some of his thoughts:
1) He thinks my new bootz are really gay(see below) and think sI should be prohibited from Helimot whilst on pain meds (doesnt say that on the bottle--yeah I walked to Helimots--pffft)--right Dave, Craig, Chris??....
2) He fully understands and accepts that his life has changed dramatically--he wants to get as healed as he can and learn how to cope and contribute--the accceptance will be a process and will be fraught with hope, disappointment, frustration and a bunch of other stuff.
3) In his words he needs "to prepare for the worst and hope for the best" and he will work his ass of for any minor miracle
4) He is still alot more concerned about others than himself--same old Eric
5) In the past only gave help and never wanted/asked for it. Now he knows hes going to need to accept it, for Eric: its humbling--but its also very good for him to let friends/fellow racers/colleauges demonstrate their love/appreciation for him
6) Ive learned a while ago, that doing the giving really puts "the giver" in touch with what lifes all about and whats important and whats not. Same thing that makes us "crazy racers" to tightly bound to one another. Outsiders dont get it--must suck
So Again What Can We Do??
So by approximately this Monday, May 18th
1) When he gets settled in the "nursing home" (hopefully in Los Gatos) come see him--Ill provide the address when I get it
2) Call him if you have his cell number, if you need it and it makes sense, PM me
3) I'll also post the address for cards/other
And finally (you all knew "this" was coming)--Any financial assistance via his paypal account ericarnoldrecoveryfund@gmail.com would be greatly appreciated.
Cash or cheques (made out to The EA235 Fund) can be given to myself, Kathy Kuwaye, Sveta, Lance Kiegwin and they will work their way into his recovery fund. Just think how much good race karma you can bank, I know I need a bunch.
Eric is basically living thru most of our worst fears as racers, husbands, fathers, etc. He will be posting progress reports here on the BARF RC as he feels it will be of interest--we can all get really in touch with our deepest fears--which usually aint that big of a deal once outside our heads. Regardless, he will keep in touch with us all as soon as we get him hooked up with a PC (prolly two days)
Thanks for listening..see ghey boots at bottom--they kind of match my bruised ass.
Get well fast Eric forget what docs say!!
PayPal donation sent... wish I could do more, yet it all adds up.
,
Wish I could send more but unemployment sucks 
:|
Ah well, a half day was still fun, thanks to a hot date the next day.
Best wishes.
