Hello everyone,
I wanted to let everyone know here in this area about an incident that occurred far from here to one of our cycling community companions. I rode with and raced with Andy Malcom on the same team for several years when I was from the Midwest. Him and his family are going through a really difficult period right now after he was struck by a pickup truck while out on a routine training ride in Bartlesville, OK out on a remote two lane paved road, the same kind I spent thousands of miles with him and others on while living, riding, and racing in the midwest.
If anybody is able and would like to support Andy on his road to recovery by pitching in at the GoFundMe page to help with medical bills and other expenses due to an extended time off work, I wanted to share the link.
A Miraculous Survival
It's been about two and a half months since he was hit, and I can say that his survival is miraculous. A speeding pickup truck that hit a pothole and lost control, went broadside / sideways on a two-lane paved road hit him at his estimate going around 50 to 60 mph. Not only is it miraculous that he survived the actual impact, but only by the good fortune of having a Good Samaritan stopping to check on the truck occupant was it discovered that he was still alive. The driver, a girl in her 20s, had not even gone to check on him or call 911 while he was laying in the ditch dying and told the Good Samaritan that stopped that she was just trying to get her truck out of the ditch. She was trying to leave him to die, but when the Good Samaritan walked around the truck and figured out there was a person there and that he was alive, that's actually when 911 was called because it had not been previously done. His body was pretty much broken everywhere. His hip was shattered, ribs broken, arm broken, face needing reconstructive surgery. He has a long physical and mental recovery ahead.
I talk to Andy on a fairly regular basis, and his ongoing struggle is actually incredible in the sense that he is making great strides in recovery and, not too long ago, was able to take his first steps again. I talked to him yesterday and he was super excited that the doctors, as part of his PT, are letting him leave the house a few times a week.
Here is the link to the GoFundMe page if you would like to check out the story and perhaps donate to his recovery effort. In addition, if you know of any other groups around the area or organizations that you can share this with, that would be greatly appreciated.
Russell Tolle
Vancouver