Donorcycles

    Spring has limped its way into the Midwest and the nice weather will bring out the motorcyclists. Unfortunately, for some this will be the last year for you in fact some of you will be dead before this blog is posted. I want to take this opportunity to ask those of you who ride and especially those who ride without a helmet to sign a donor card and donate your organs to someone in need.

I am not here to argue the pros and cons of not wearing a helmet there are none if you don't wear a helmet you are just being selfish and dare I say stupid. I know because I used to ride a motorcycle and did for many years right up to the day I became a flight nurse for metro life flight. One of my very first scene runs was to motorcycle accident where a man and his girlfriend struck a guardrail and were thrown from the bike. The man was killed instantly when his head impacted the steel support post he was lucky in a sense he died without too much pain. However, his girlfriend rode the guardrail for several yards before ending up in a ditch and still alive but unconscious she lived three more days and her family did donate her organs. Now, by far the most spectacular of all was the man who swerved to miss a dog he was riding a crotch rocket at well over the speed limit on a narrow road in rural Medina county, he was wearing a helmet and when we loaded him into the aircraft I showed him the helmet which had a hole in the front where his forehead would be, the hole was all the way through to the padding. Imagine if he had not worn a helmet and his forehead was sliding down the pavement. Additionally, the three guys who all ran over each other. The first guy dumped it and the second ran over him and the third guy ran over the first two….all wearing helmets and the only injury was a broken leg on the first guy who fell.

However, for most of you who ride and read this you are saying it will never happen to me. Really? I have a friend who has ridden for over 20 years and he states "it's not if you will lay it down it's when everybody wrecks sooner or later" Moreover, many times you do not have to lay it down you get mashed by the other vehicles that you share the road with!

My take home point is this. If you ride then sign a donor card, having an accident on a bike is almost always fatal and someone needs your organs and they will take very good care of them. Do something that will make your death a little less senseless.