Active and Feisty

This dog barked almost all day long while we cleaned up my Mom's old house. It has been 7.5 years since my Mom passed. We don't let go easily.

Some folks meander through life at a leisurely pace, some cartwheel through. My nephew is the type that cartwheels through life (active and feisty). He did Motocross for years, taught hang gliding in North Carolina and sometime last night shortly after midnight cartwheeled a 4-wheel ATV right over a cliff.

The news is reporting that the cliff was 80 feet, but we are thinking it is more like 30. My nephew was wearing a helmet. Another rider went over also, not wearing a helmet. The other rider was life flighted directly from the scene, my nephew was taken by ambulance to one hospital and then later life flighted to another hospital.

The word is that my nephew and his friend (a co-worker) were in a group of riders, following an experienced leader who knew the terrain when for some reason or another, the two of them took off on their own. The story will unfold as time goes on. My nephew, of course, has no memory of the accident. In some cases, that is how the brain handles trauma.

My nephew has a bone at the bottom of his skull that is broken. He has a punctured lung, a bleeding spleen, and a laceration on his bowel. They were in water for over an hour before professional help could arrive. The terrain was that dense. My niece's boyfriend arrived at the scene first and held their heads above water until more help arrived. He said the water was chest deep.

My nephew is no stranger to broken bones and injuries and hospitals. You don't drive Motocross for more than a decade with no injuries.

Yep. So I get up this morning and after hearing the news, I prepare to drive back to Pittsburgh. That didn't happen. My sister called to say that he is in ICU and they won't allow any more in the room than 2 at a time. My family travels in packs of 8 or more.

My sister and her family were gearing up for this fair. They have always shown cows, sheep and such. They were not showing any animals this year, but my niece sings with the band and her boyfriend is heavy into the tractor pulls.

This will be a fair year they won't soon forget.