My update for Paul

BWitty

2004-03-09



Indeed Candi. Congratulations to Paul and Melinda on their conception

of twins.

Now, a bit more news on Paul....



Paul had surgery yesterday afternoon. They inserted a screw through his

c2 vertebra and the procedure went very well. He should make a full

recovery. He has some nasty facial lacerations and the like. Long

story short is that it could have easily been much worse. His helmet

saved him from severe head trauma for sure.



Here is a nice recovery story about Saturn rider Nathan O'Neill who

suffered a very similar injury in late 2003. He is now racing pro again

on his way to 100% recovery. We hope and expect the same kind of

recovery from Paul.





Cut and pasted from

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/aug03/aug22news2



O'Neill undergoes surgery



Australian Saturn rider Nathan O'Neill is hoping to make a

quicker-than-scheduled recovery from the injuries he sustained in last

month's disastrous crash at the International/Tour de Toona if surgery

to repair his cracked C2 vertebra goes according to plan. In an upbeat

email to Cyclingnews, O'Neill said, "I had a followup appointment with a

specialist spinal surgeon yesterday here in NYC. We discovered that

given my current condition (as of yesterday) I would greatly benefit

from a surgical procedure that would involve inserting a screw through

the C2 vertebra and the odontoid bone, to secure the odontoid back into

its original place." That surgery was scheduled for Thursday afternoon,

US time.



"As you can see I'm doing fine," said O'Neill, "and this surgery will

greatly enhance my recovery, especially in terms of the expected time.

The halo will be coming off during the surgery, and I will be checking

out St Vincents Hospital the day following the procedure (Friday) with a

rigid collar of some sort, in order to keep the initial movement to a

minimum. The surgeon, Dr Franco Cerabona, has told me that with this

procedure I will make a 100 percent recovery on or ahead of the original

schedule."





And here is a recent follow-up interview with O'Neill.

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=5427







-----Original Message-----

From: Candi Murray [mailto:cmur-@obra.org]

Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 8:59 PM

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: [OBRA Chat] My update for Paul



Melinda Anderson returned my call as I sat waiting for my flight. He

has a

C2 fracture but was neurologically intact. He was in the ICU because he

was

unconscious for over 5-10 minutes. When she left him for the evening he

was

figuring what races he could still go to this year and planning his

recovery

for that - (what is it with you guys ;-)

Melinda also shared that they just found out that they are expecting

twins

and she figures that Paul orchestrated the entire crash because it was

the

last time he could get the limelight solo!!

Joy and tears, ain't that just life!

Candi



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Nyberg, Michael

2004-03-09





A friend of mine broke C3 and C4 in a ski accident and has been partially confined to a chair ever since. When I told him of this accident he expressed shock and said that Paul could have easily died.



My prayers are with Paul and his family but my hat is off to the OBRA crew and the medical crew that was on hand Sunday. I wasn't at the crash site but clearly these guys and gals did the right thing -- didn't move him, called for Life Flight etc.



Hopefully we all take time to thank course workers and other volunteers at races but I'm sure few of us stop and thank the medical crew (unless we happen to end up in their care). Thanks, not only for being there every race but for being cool in the face of chaos, doing the right thing for Paul, and putting his care above the other races and everything else going on at the time.



Cheers,





MN





-----Original Message-----

From: Candi Murray [mailto:cmur-@obra.org]

Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 11:59 PM

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: [OBRA Chat] My update for Paul





Melinda Anderson returned my call as I sat waiting for my flight. He has a

C2 fracture but was neurologically intact. He was in the ICU because he was

unconscious for over 5-10 minutes. When she left him for the evening he was

figuring what races he could still go to this year and planning his recovery

for that - (what is it with you guys ;-)

Melinda also shared that they just found out that they are expecting twins

and she figures that Paul orchestrated the entire crash because it was the

last time he could get the limelight solo!!

Joy and tears, ain't that just life!

Candi



To respond to the whole group send to ob-@topica.com.

To respond to the list manager send to cmur-@obra.org

To unsubscribe send to obra-uns-@topica.com



Candi Murray

2004-03-08



Melinda Anderson returned my call as I sat waiting for my flight. He has a

C2 fracture but was neurologically intact. He was in the ICU because he was

unconscious for over 5-10 minutes. When she left him for the evening he was

figuring what races he could still go to this year and planning his recovery

for that - (what is it with you guys ;-)

Melinda also shared that they just found out that they are expecting twins

and she figures that Paul orchestrated the entire crash because it was the

last time he could get the limelight solo!!

Joy and tears, ain't that just life!

Candi