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                                               Brother Larry Ritchey                      " Free Spirit " Artist: Jillane Curreen

 When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,  to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are.  They are there for the reason you need them to be.  Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.  Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.  Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.  What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.  The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.  

There are many different responses to crisis. Most survivors have intense feelings after a traumatic event but recover from the trauma; others have more difficulty recovering — especially those who have had previous traumatic experiences, who are faced with ongoing stress, or who lack support from friends and family — and will need additional help.

What you share in this forum, may prevent that next Accident, that next Casualty

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Re: Deer Strikes

It was June 13, 2008, a Friday, and the first day of Republic of Texas Rally (ROT) in Austin. I had some friends ride down to visit and attend the rally.

A couple of us (photographers) decided to get up really early and head out to Hill Country and photograph a sunrise. The location was about 75 miles from my house. I was about 2 miles from our destination and all of a sudden, there was a deer's head in my face and a blunt hit to the front of my bike and more to my body. I had zero time to react and my new Road King started wobbling violently back and forth, while I was trying to slow down from 70 MPH. To compound my problems, when the deer hit my head, it somehow knocked my half helmet down in front of my face and I could not see, so I was trying to stop an out of control 750 pound Harley and not being able to see.

All of a sudden, everything was fine. There was no more out of control wobble and everything was fine. So, I thought. What I didn't know for a few seconds was I had been thrown by my bike into the air and I was flying, hence the feeling that everything was fine (remember, I still could not see). Then reality came back in a most bone jarring way, when I hit the pavement and started flailing down the road.

My buddy was kind enough (I would have done the same for him, if the roles had been reversed), to take some photos. Some of the milder photos can be found - find my photos listed as "My Bike" at www.flickr.com/tropicdiver .

Back to the story, once I stopped moving, I was on my back and in a great amount of pain and still not able to see. Instead of a helmet still covering my face, blood had filled into my eye sockets, which kept me from being able to see. I asked my buddy if I was going to die and he was honest enough to tell me "he hoped not, but that I did look pretty bad".

Nine (9) broken ribs, broken clavicle, broken scapula, two (2) broken fingers, punctured left lung, bruised spleen and road rash on my left forehead, both arms, hands and my left shoulder. My legs were perfectly fine.

We were in the middle of nowhere and my buddy had never been where we were. Fortunately, it happened right at the line between two counties and there was a leaving and entering county line sign and a road sign and he somehow got cell service to reach 911. It took a first responder maybe 10 minutes to reach me from a nearby Ranger's house and the ambulance about 30 or so minutes to reach me to take me a mile to a helicopter to fly me back to Austin.

They put my bike on the back of a wrecker just to see it topple off and land back on the ground upside down, I guess to add insult to injury, I was told, later.

I spent 4 days in ICU and a total of 30 days in 4 different hospitals, which included re-hab (to learn how to use my left arm and right hand, again), 2 surgeries, which brought on a MRSA infection, which caused me to have to give myself IV's twice a day for 6 additional weeks after I got out of the hospital(s).

It cost $11,000.00 to fix my Road King back to showroom condition and about $250,000.00 to get me going. That was a year and a half, ago. I was addicted to narcotics (Fentanyl) for 15 months to help me deal with the pain and fortunately, I took a chance on an acupuncturist that helped me kick the narcotics the Pain Management doctors told me I would be on the rest of my life to deal with my chronic pain. I still hurt, but not bad enough to take drugs for the pain, thanks to actupuncture.

Oh, I did waste that damned deer, the bitch.

Thanks for listening.

Re: Deer Strikes

You have given such a great information that would be very helpful to me. I would like more in-depth information on it.