The following is an abridged version of the accident that I was involved in on Jan. 27 2016.
Having been shopping at Winco after work, I was heading home on the Shadow. My route was south on Thain road. I was in the inside lane as I came up on the Sinclair station, south of Stewart Ave. As I did so, the next few things that occurred took only seconds.
I noticed a car, at the Sinclair, set to cross the south bound lanes of traffic in order to go north. As the driver did not see me, but attempting to get across the lanes before the car just behind and in the outside lane got to him, I can only guess that he gunned it. As I saw the car darting forward, I leaned left, bringing the bike right up to the yellow line and releasing the throttle, hoping that the driver would see me in time. He did not, and his car collided with me.
As I recall things, I was first jerked to the right, as I'm sure the car was pushing the bike out from under me. However, as my lower right leg was being crushed between the car and the bike, I was then thrown back to the left. As my leg was release from it's entanglement, I flew free from the motorcycle.
A nurse, was traveling in the north bound lane at the time of the accident. She stopped and was by my side within seconds of the incident. She gave me instructions to not move. We briefly discussed my situation. At this time, I was unable to feel my right leg at all. I believe I asked something to the tune of "how bad is it?". First asking if I wanted the truth, she said that "it's bad".
I was asked if there was something that they could do or someone to call. I said to call from my cell, speed dial #2 and let her know that I would not be able to babysit. You see, I was going to babysit Amber's kids that night. She is speed dial #2. Amber was called and showed up after a few minutes.
I believe Amber asked what she could do. I couldn't think of anything immediate, but I did say, well, my groceries are in the bag on the bike. I was later teased a bit for that one.
Once the ambulance arrived, the EMT's began their work. While they were at work, I heard a familiar voice say, "Hi Aaron". I looked up to see Jeff Jensen. He was on the fire truck that responded. I responded with, "Hey Jeff".
I was taken to the hospital where they promptly began working on me. I ask, but they would not allow me to remove my shirt. I guess policy is, if it comes off, it comes off in pieces. This was upsetting because it was a new shirt that the kids had picked out for me for Christmas.
I believe there were two doctors there, one of which was a circulatory specialist. He worked on my leg to get blood flow back to my foot while nurses were asking me questions. Once this was done, they started prepping me to be sent to Spokane.
There were a couple co-workers there as well as Amber, Kelsey and the kids. We were given a little time for good-byes before they loaded me back into the ambulance.
I was taken to the airport, they put me on a plane and flew me to Spokane.
Here are a couple pictures of the bike.
I won't bore you with the details, but my leg was amputated below the knee on Feb 2nd.
