19:41
On November 8th at 7:41pm, I was struck by a Jeep while riding my bike home. I blacked out while I was in the air and could barely move after the impact. An ambulance arrived shortly after one of the witnesses called, and several EMTs put me in a neck brace and strapped me down to a stretcher. I ended up being shipped to the county hospital and had a CT scan taken of my head and neck to assess the damage. It turned out that I wasn't seriously injured and I was released two hours later.
Now, a month later, I am faced with over $1,700 in medical bills, $700 in chiropractic work, and a $100 traffic ticket, since I was at fault for the accident for biking too quickly through a crosswalk. I currently work two jobs to pay for rent, food, and other bills that I have, so it's pretty obvious that I don't have a great deal of money sitting around, let alone over two grand. I also only have extremely minimal insurance, which will cover very little, if any, of the costs. So, understandably, I have been pretty worried about how I will be paying for everything.
But lately I have been realizing that my worries have been largely unjustified.
A few days after the accident I went to pick up my bike, which, from what I had heard, had been pretty significantly damaged. I spoke to the police officer as we were walking over to evidence and property storage at the police station, and she mentioned that her friend had been killed in a similar accident while riding her bike. She held up an orange wristband engraved with her friend's name for me to see. I told her that I was sorry to hear that. She brought my bike out, and I was sad to see that what I had heard was true. The front wheel was mangled beyond repair, the stem bent, and the frame dented enough to be structurally unsound. I had built that bike completely from scratch at a local non-profit bike shop and rode my first century ride on it; it was hard to see that it was ruined.
I loved telling my story over and over again to my friends over the next two weeks. Honestly, I thought it was pretty epic. I would show them my metal water bottle that had been crushed from the impact and tell them how crazy it was. It was pretty entertaining seeing their faces as I went through everything that happened that night. I think I might have actually enjoyed some of the attention - even though I usually don't.
But as I explained that if I had been hit any differently, I probably would have been ran over; or if it had been a car, and not a Jeep that hit me, I would have likely crushed the windshield, I began to realize that not too many people leave an accident like that as unscathed as I did. I began to hear stories of other cyclists who have been hit by cars that have had their pelvis shattered, legs broken, or who have even been killed. I did not break a single bone in my body, and that is something that began to really intrigue and amaze me. I was biking nearly 30 miles an hour and was hit by a Jeep going at least fifteen, and I was able to walk out of the emergency room within two hours.
About five days before the accident, one of my good friends, Gill, gave me a very lightly used Specialized Allez racing frame along with several components - several hundred dollars' worth of parts - that he wasn't using. After the accident, I invested only about $200 and was able to build a complete bike worth about $800.
I have come to realize how blessed I truly am. After the accident, I received texts and emails from many of my friends asking how I was, and many of them offered to help in any way possible. I was given a bike much nicer than the one I used to own, and I left the accident with nothing more than a few abrasions and a concussion. It's hard for me to accept that I could have been seriously injured or even killed in the accident. My water bottle deflected a great deal of the blow and likely saved me from several cracked or broken ribs, and I was hit in a way that simply threw me off my bike and prevented me from being run over.
God is not done with me yet. He obviously has plans for me, and I know that he will provide. I moved to Boulder with only $28 and had five thousand dollars in bills, but in spite of this, I was able to pay off every dollar of those bills, and was never late on a rent payment or phone bill. To this day, I have never not had enough money to eat or pay rent. I may not have a lot, but I have been provided for in every way from day one.
I believe that there is no such thing as luck - there is only God's grace. It is by God's grace that I was not seriously injured or killed, and it is by His grace that he will provide. I know that He has Work for me to do yet, and I am ready to carry it out.
Now, a month later, I am faced with over $1,700 in medical bills, $700 in chiropractic work, and a $100 traffic ticket, since I was at fault for the accident for biking too quickly through a crosswalk. I currently work two jobs to pay for rent, food, and other bills that I have, so it's pretty obvious that I don't have a great deal of money sitting around, let alone over two grand. I also only have extremely minimal insurance, which will cover very little, if any, of the costs. So, understandably, I have been pretty worried about how I will be paying for everything.
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| About halfway through my first Century ride. |
But lately I have been realizing that my worries have been largely unjustified.
A few days after the accident I went to pick up my bike, which, from what I had heard, had been pretty significantly damaged. I spoke to the police officer as we were walking over to evidence and property storage at the police station, and she mentioned that her friend had been killed in a similar accident while riding her bike. She held up an orange wristband engraved with her friend's name for me to see. I told her that I was sorry to hear that. She brought my bike out, and I was sad to see that what I had heard was true. The front wheel was mangled beyond repair, the stem bent, and the frame dented enough to be structurally unsound. I had built that bike completely from scratch at a local non-profit bike shop and rode my first century ride on it; it was hard to see that it was ruined.
I loved telling my story over and over again to my friends over the next two weeks. Honestly, I thought it was pretty epic. I would show them my metal water bottle that had been crushed from the impact and tell them how crazy it was. It was pretty entertaining seeing their faces as I went through everything that happened that night. I think I might have actually enjoyed some of the attention - even though I usually don't.But as I explained that if I had been hit any differently, I probably would have been ran over; or if it had been a car, and not a Jeep that hit me, I would have likely crushed the windshield, I began to realize that not too many people leave an accident like that as unscathed as I did. I began to hear stories of other cyclists who have been hit by cars that have had their pelvis shattered, legs broken, or who have even been killed. I did not break a single bone in my body, and that is something that began to really intrigue and amaze me. I was biking nearly 30 miles an hour and was hit by a Jeep going at least fifteen, and I was able to walk out of the emergency room within two hours.
About five days before the accident, one of my good friends, Gill, gave me a very lightly used Specialized Allez racing frame along with several components - several hundred dollars' worth of parts - that he wasn't using. After the accident, I invested only about $200 and was able to build a complete bike worth about $800.
I have come to realize how blessed I truly am. After the accident, I received texts and emails from many of my friends asking how I was, and many of them offered to help in any way possible. I was given a bike much nicer than the one I used to own, and I left the accident with nothing more than a few abrasions and a concussion. It's hard for me to accept that I could have been seriously injured or even killed in the accident. My water bottle deflected a great deal of the blow and likely saved me from several cracked or broken ribs, and I was hit in a way that simply threw me off my bike and prevented me from being run over.God is not done with me yet. He obviously has plans for me, and I know that he will provide. I moved to Boulder with only $28 and had five thousand dollars in bills, but in spite of this, I was able to pay off every dollar of those bills, and was never late on a rent payment or phone bill. To this day, I have never not had enough money to eat or pay rent. I may not have a lot, but I have been provided for in every way from day one.
I believe that there is no such thing as luck - there is only God's grace. It is by God's grace that I was not seriously injured or killed, and it is by His grace that he will provide. I know that He has Work for me to do yet, and I am ready to carry it out.
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