Charlie Knight
and
his milestones for

August 9-14, 2009

contact him by
email at ni_ck@ymail.com or ceknight@student.stcc.edu     or
U.S. mail at 32 Byers Street, Apt. # 101, Springfield, MA 01105
if you can offer help or assistance in any way.

 

 

I bicyle home from the NOFA summer conference leaving UMass after I was certain all stuff was put away, etc. I was looking forward to maybe helping with the planning work for next years conference. I got a beach towel I had been wanting (I sometimes use a big beach towel to sleep on when I don't need heavy blankets) and bicycled back toward Springfield.

I stopped in South Hadley near the Mount Holyoke College and the Fire Department. Had to tie that beach towel onto the bicycle because it was starting to slip off again.

Then it happened. I started up and the beach towel slipped again when I hit a bump. I looked down as I put the rear brakes down and saw the towel. Before I could apply pressure to the front brakes I was flying. The man at the Fire Department said I the towel had wrapped around my bicycle wheel and then I went over the wheel head first.

I was brought to the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Two reasons for doing this. One was all my medical records were with Baystate and the second was that my friends were mostly now down here, as I knew I would need to be hospitalized, I had no ability to move my arms or hands, the pain was horrible and I was tramatized.
As we rode along I gave the Medics in the ambulance with me the information I thought would be needed when I got to the hosptial. I asked them to tell me when we were getting to the hospital, when I was told we were going into the hospital complex I prayed. "O Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit", I was pretty certain there was a good chance that I would NOT survive the time in the emergency room.

But Dr. Shapiro came and told me he had to operate immediately and I said go ahead and do it. Someone vouched that I had said this as I could not sign anything. The Doctor told me when I came out of anethesia that the operations were successful, but I would most probably need to to have one or two more surgeries, depending on how I recouperated.

Then time in intensive care, I got better and by August 14th I was well enough to be transfered to the Weldon Rehabilatation Hospital, also in Springfield, MA.