Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Got a call yesterday from a mate whos brother is in a spot of bother after a dirt accident.

They were out riding fire trails etc around Wentworth Falls and had swapped bikes (Kev has a KLX 450F that his brother was riding). They are all fairly experienced dirt heads and had ridden the trail a fair bit. Kevs brother Rob came around a corner at about 80 km/hr to find a Smallish tree across the trail, thought hed get over it but it went pear shaped and he went over the bars and unfortunately into a tree off the side of the trail. One lung deflated on impact the other punctured with a few broken ribs. His shoulder took the impact on the tree and pretty well shattered. Unfortunaely his head tried to go around the other side of the tree while his shoulder went the other way. This caused some fairly catastrophic nerve damage and he currently cant move or feel his right arm. They dont know whether the nerve is severed or just badly torn so theres no prognosis yet.

He's currently in Westmead in the ICU but he's stable so thats good. They have to wait a few days to see whether the nerve damage is repairable or not though.

Theyd ridden this trail plenty of times, felt safe on it, often went out solo and rode it as well (thankfully not this time as they were there for a few hours getting choppered out and not one person came along the trail).

So take it easy guys, just like riding on the road the unexpected can happen to even the most experienced riders and always make sure you've got a buddy with you.

Not good news and as you say you never know when the unexpected is going to happen, Hope your friend has a succesfull and speedy recovery

Hope he recovers ok glen that would have been a bad experience for all that were there, the unexpected is one of the reasons I don't ride too fast on the dirtbike, got nothing to prove at all, & also one of the reasons why I prefer smaller single track.

Damn terrible news to hear
Hope he recovers back to normal.

robracer wrote:Hope he recovers ok glen that would have been a bad experience for all that were there, the unexpected is one of the reasons I don't ride too fast on the dirtbike, got nothing to prove at all, & also one of the reasons why I prefer smaller single track.

Yep same as you rob, and even then still had couple of nasties

ouch - poor bugger I hope he gets through this OK. Agree 100% with Rob - the dirt is not the place to get jiggy wit it....anything can and often does happen....

Sounds nasty
Hope all goes well for him Glen, and he pulls through OK...

Thats nasty.
Speady recovery to ya mates brother.

Best wishes for a 100% fix and speedy recovery. .. Always expect the unexpected, even on the road.
Speaking from experience, a squished lung is so painful, i thought i was dying. But a 1 squished and 1 punctured, i cant fathom the pain.

Dirty people are tough and very determined. You said he does dirt riding often so he'd be pretty strong and fit. That will all certainly help with the recovery. Best wishes and keep us updated.

Hope he pulls through ok,

Another cautionary tale for me not getting into dirt, I break enough bones without having to worry about errant frigging trees.

Thinks back to my last trip to the snowies and finding 2 blades and a tree in the middle of a left hander on the Bonang hwy.....

.................

Bit of bad news. Turns out the main nerve to his right arm has toally detached from c5 at the spinal column. He's been told to expect unimaginable pain which apparently they struggle to manage,poor bugger. Morphine does nothing so their focus is on strategies to manage the pain somehow.

Glen wrote:Bit of bad news. Turns out the main nerve to his right arm has toally detached from c5 at the spinal column. He's been told to expect unimaginable pain which apparently they struggle to manage,poor bugger. Morphine does nothing so their focus is on strategies to manage the pain somehow.

That's pretty extensive trauma, my sympathies goes out to him; tears/detachement that involve the brachial (C5-T1) or sacral (L4-S5) plexus/trunk are difficult to treat & usually not managed very well.

If he is sydney, he would benefit from a secondary opinion from a neurovascular surgeon & pain clinic review from a major trauma centre. RNSH has the best pain clinic in Australia, waiting lists are long however they do prioritize for urgent cases.

Sounds Ouch! Poor Bugger

Glen wrote:Bit of bad news. Turns out the main nerve to his right arm has toally detached from c5 at the spinal column. He's been told to expect unimaginable pain which apparently they struggle to manage,poor bugger. Morphine does nothing so their focus is on strategies to manage the pain somehow.

Not good news.
I Don't know too much about nerves, but I was told that some nerves may rebuild themselves.Will that nerve reattach itself?
If the pains gets too much will he go into shock? cant they manage it with local anesthetic?

Shit, that's no good, hope they can work something out for him

Possum wrote:

Glen wrote:Bit of bad news. Turns out the main nerve to his right arm has toally detached from c5 at the spinal column. He's been told to expect unimaginable pain which apparently they struggle to manage,poor bugger. Morphine does nothing so their focus is on strategies to manage the pain somehow.

Not good news.
I Don't know too much about nerves, but I was told that some nerves may rebuild themselves.Will that nerve reattach itself?
If the pains gets too much will he go into shock? cant they manage it with local anesthetic?

I dont think so although Im no Neurosurgeon. Not sure how they manage the pain but apparently stuff like Morphine etc doesnt work. I thik they can do something surgically to try and get some level of function or sensation back.