I know I'm writing this 18 months late, but I need to write this so I have it documented. This was the last time I rode my bike...as of 18 months.
I did my daily run and I remember planning out the route and wanting to do the loop to the cove first so I didn't have to do more uphill at the end. So I did the loop up to the cove and then did the paved trail loop down to Monarch Meadows and home. Daisy, of course ran with me. But then I needed to do some cross training so instead of doing squats and lunges and other hard stuff at home, I decided to ride my bike. Craig remembers hearing me telling Daisy I couldn't take her with me. Nathan tells me that on my way out after pumping up my bike tires I had a decently long chat with him as he was taking off for cross country practice. Then I headed up to Yellow Fork parking lot to work on my uphill riding and turnover on the way down. A short ride, just over 7 miles round trip and I can get it done in 25ish minutes, but a good uphill push. So, I said goodbye to Nathan (or so I'm told) and headed off. I am also told that on my way up the canyon I passed Jo Darton and waved at her while she was driving. I got to the parking lot and turned around and started heading downhill (according to garmin). About a 1/4 mile down from the parking lot, something happened. No one was there and I don't even remember anything since around 2pm on Sunday (I remember being in the front room of my mom's house on Colt Ct after my nephew's baby's blessing and being sad because my sister had just brushed me off and wouldn't talk to me or even let me take a picture of her with her grandson. I went to Craig's family after that after talking about it, I remember a couple moments of that event, but it doesn't fit in the timeline of Sunday in my mind. So sitting in the front room saddened by the way my sister had treated me for what I felt was no reason was the last thing I remember). But somehow I crashed. Due to the way my bike was broken, the guesses of those that found me and saw a bunch of deer fur in/on my bike and a deep dive of youtube videos of what happens when a deer hits a bike being ridden, I believe a deer jumped out of the trees and hit me while I was riding my bike. I then flipped over probably a few times and landed still clipped into my bike in the middle of the road.
The gentleman that found me was Jan Sara's husband, I don't remember his name, but Jan is a spin teacher at JL Sorenson that I really liked. Plus, her son and his family was in my ward and her granddaughter Olivia was/is one of my favorite girls that I got to teach for 3 years in upper primary and then YWs as camp director. He didn't know me, but had I been able to talk and we met under better terms would've been able to have a lovely conversation about all the mutual people we love! Anyway, he says he thought I was a dead deer when he first saw me, but when he realized I was a person still clipped into a bike he could tell I was alive, but not coherent so he called 911. He didn't have great service where he was and so he drove down the canyon just a bit and saw a group riding up the canyon and told them about me and asked them to stay with me while he was on the phone with emergency. I don't have any pictures or memories of what happened or where or any of this aftermath, I only have the words of those that were with me.
One of the guys that got to the scene first said that he NEVER gives people, especially those that he doesn't know blessings, but he felt over and over again the push to give me a blessing. I truly feel that this was a prompting from all those angels that had been sent to be with me and the prayers of my family that we will be safe. I'm sure he was nervous about if it would even be well received, because I was in a tank top and shorts (I'd just finished a run!) and who knows if I was a member of the chuch. This brother gave me a simple, but profound blessing to be able to recieve all the medical care needed that would allow me to fully recover. I truly see this as one of the many miracles that happened that day. He has said that there was a woman there with me that held my hand and kept talking to me. I don't know how I got off of or out of my bike, but I did and everyone said that I kept just wanting to leave. Obvously there wasn't a way for me to ride my bike with the crazy bent front wheel and 2 broken front spokes and I couldn't communicate my name or address. But I wanted to just leave, which totally sounds like me. I wouldn't want people giving me attention for such an accident, just let me go home. ha! Anyway, so there were 5 or 6 people there helping me when the ambulance came and I've been told that they quickly contacted life flight to get me on a helicopter becuase although I had a helmet my helmet was crumbled and destroyed my face was bloody and my shoulder had a ton of road rash. Plus, I was incoherent if I was even trying to communicate. So I'm sure they wanted to get me to help ASAP not knowing if I had brain damage or not. Anyway, they loaded me in the ambulance thinking that they were meeting the helicopter at the church by the Cove. Then after a couple minutes they heard the helicopter landing at the yellow fork parking lot and the ambulance came back UP the canyon to meet the helicopter. ha!
So, I had my cell phone with me but I didn't have any other identification because I was just on a quick ride close to home. Because I couldn't communicate and my phone only has a pin code, they couldn't open my phone either. So I was admitted as a Jane Doe and taken on the helicopter to IMC in Murray, UT. The police officer took my bike and phone and went to the hospital still not knowing how to contact my family. I guess after he got to the hospital they finally figured out how to do an emergency call on my phone. I had my in-laws as my emergency contact since I figured I was always with my close family, so it would be pointless to call the person with me if I needed help. About an hour after the accident the officer called my in-laws from my phone asking about who I was and they, of course, thought it was a fraudulent call. So they used another phone and called my husband asking if I was home. "No, she is out on a run" he said....they responded "maybe she isn't" he then put everything together and they started listening to the officer's story and they realized that I had been life flighted to IMC after the accident.
Craig then woke up Adam (it happened at 7:45 in the morning, remember HOT August days mean you have to finish your run before the sun comes up!) and as they were leaving for the hospital, Nathan got home from XC practice and got in the car with them. Craig's parent's posted about it on the Moody Family Group Me and so Lauren was blind-sided with the news there before Craig could call her. He was able to call David and he got to the hospital before Craig did, because he works for Paul near the airport. Craig and the boys all got to the hospital and because I had been admitted as a Jane Doe, it took them a while to figure out who I was and where I was. The receptionist that was helping them then said "Okay, wait over there. I'll have a social worker come out and talk to you." Craig tells me that at that moment he knew I was dead. I asked if he then had the boys sit down away from him or what, but I think he was so shocked that the boys just stood by him. Finally, someone came out and talked to them and told them I was in surgery and they would let them know any updates when they had them. I seriously can't imagine what kind of trauma my family was dealing with during those moments. My in-laws came to the hospital and Lauren and her famiy drove down from Logan and got to be with everyone before anyone was able to see me. Who knows what they were doing for the 4+ hours I was in "surgery" but they only cleaned up my wounds and gave me a few stitches just above my right eyebrow. I've learned that I did have a brain bleed and I'm sure they did numerous tests to make sure everything was where it should be and functioning as it should be, but the surgeons had to keep their scapels put away that morning!
Craig says it was a good 3 hours before he was able to see me. When they were able to get in to see me, I was intubated and sedated, my son David and Craig were able to give me a blessing. I was in the ICU, so only 2 people at once could come in and see me so it took a while for all the family to come in, but they all got to see me laying there in ICU at my "almost dead" moment. I don't know a lot that happened after that, because I obviously wasn't around or awake and Craig doesn't tell me a lot about what happened. However, I know that he stayed at the hospital with me and only went home a couple of times other than to shower every other day. Lauren stayed at the house for a few days and my boys had a young men's camp to go on Wednesday and things were stable enough for them to get off to that.
I was in the ICU for 3 or 4 days and they took out my intubation tube on Tuesday morning and my brain bleed corrected itself within 8 hours when they did a repeat scan so at that point it was just waiting for me to come back to "normal". I had lots of friends that came to the hospital and supported Craig and my family both in service and with financial donations. I'm sure it was a crazy time for my family and that they had to endure a lot of trauma. To me, it is all just a story. I don't remember anything and just hear lots of stories and see pictures. It is kind of weird. But this was certainly a turning point for me in my life. I had to wear a hard neck brace for the next 7 weeks and slept 99% of the time and asked about what happened and why I was in the hospital every other moment.
I'll continue the story more on Thursday, which is the next day I remember....
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