[quote=“Vovchandr”"]
http://www.edgeofsomewhere.com/Journal/trauma-t1571
http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17795
The guy will never be entertained by roller coasters, ever again. :eek
[/quote]
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Trauma T1571
For a short time yesterday I did not have a name; I was Trauma T1571 at the Cumberland Memorial Hospital in Cumberland, Maryland. Before that, I was flown by helicopter off of Highway 68 Westbound. Before that, I was strapped to a backboard and given an IV. Before that, I was cut out of a car with giant pneumatic pincers. Before that, I had a man holding me immobile and shielding my face and legs from the tools the firemen were using to extract me. Before that, a bystander reached his hand through the smashed window just to hold mine and speak with me. Before that I was in the worst car accident I can imagine. By all apparent rights, I should not be typing this right now.
This past week I was at the BuildaBridge Institute in Philadelphia (which was superb, by the way—amazing people and conversations). Yesterday afternoon I drove back from Philly to Morgantown, West Virginia where my parents live…or at least that is what I was attempting to do. Somewhere east of Cumberland, MD, I was going down a grade (there is a long hill there that trucks tend to barrel through). My cruse control was on; I was just going along in the right hand lane (which, for my friends in the UK, remember to switch this…I was in the “slow” lane). I caught a glimpse of something very large in my driver’s mirror and then was suddenly spinning around and all hell broke loose.
I was hit in the rear driver’s side corner by an eighteen wheel truck that came into my lane as he passed me (apparently rather quickly). This spun me around several times and I then became lodged in underneath the trailer of the truck and dragged along the freeway for some distance. Of course, there is not a lot of room underneath a cargo trailer; fortunately, I was driving one of the smallest cars in existence. I was in a Mazda MX-5 (a Miata); the top of the car was shorn right off as I went under. The firemen who cut me out (they had to extract me through the side as there was no way for me to come out upward) said that, had I been in any other kind of vehicle, I would be dead. Actually, everyone that spoke with me could not figure out how I survived. One of the paramedics said he had never seen anyone come out of an accident like that alive (when they arrived on the scene, they immediately called for a helicopter before seeing me); I have some lacerations on my face and arms from all the glass and a sore shoulder and arm. I was not even kept in the hospital overnight. The medic on the flight took some pictures of the scene with his mobile and shared them around the emergency room; I just kept hearing “Damn…dayyymn!” and then people would just come over and look at me (and then say something like “…damn?”). I felt I was playing out the hospital scene in Unbreakable.
As they pulled me out of the wreckage, one of the firemen looked at me and said, “Man, there must be some kind of plan for you.” I have always valued my life and appreciate the blessings of it—but this is a new life. I remember thinking one thing during the accident, “Let me Live!” and I’ve lived—and that means something very special now. I hope to discover more fully what life is—because I’ve been given a chance to continue anew with living.
HOLY MOLY!
Jesus.
good write up fom the guy
wonder how he got the pics
Released the same night, unreal.
95 owner here… I gotta tell you, it is pretty scary when passing anything in that car. Its just so utterly small and unnoticeable.
I cant believe this guy survived and vehicle dint pull a f&f2.
Who would have thought driving a Miata would HELP you in an accident.
x2 on the good write-up.
Haha thats so cool but no… I meant this scene
Where the Saleen gets sucked under and then trampled. That probably could never happen anyways lol.
Have you driven over a Ford lately?
im pretty sure this one is old as fawk.
my bad someone just sent me a video thing on it to me yesterday
Wow. Glad he is ok. I bet the next morning was the best day of his life.
Godspeed Raymond K. Hessel…
reminds me of this:
Shit!