A short story regarding endurance and stamina fell into my lap today.
I was talking to somebody who earlier this year was dirt-biking 70 miles away from their home when they dumped their bike. It happened at about 3:00PM. He was trying to squeeze in one more run before heading to work (second shift).
He knew he had broken something because he could not put any weight on his left arm while he tried to stand up and he got woozie when standing. After clearing his head for many minutes, he was finally able to stand up and pick up his bike. It would not start.
He wheeled it off the trail and leaned it up against a tree, out-of-sight from the trail.
He walked two miles back to his vehicle carrying his now-scuffed but otherwise virtually brand-new helmet.
He called work and said he was definitely going to be late.
He drove home...very slowly. His wife took him to a local Emergency Room where they peeled off his riding gear and then sent him to imaging.
X-Rays showed seven broken ribs and a comminuted clavicle.
Yeah, it hurt. Yeah, it was hard to breath but he made the decision to extricate himself rather than call 9-1-1. By his thinking, he was already back at his vehicle and it would be just as fast to drive himself to an ER close to home as to scramble the local fire department.
I also happen to know that this same guy was shot in the face with a 30-06 when he was 19. He was working at a 24 hour gas station at he time. The doctors decided to leave some of the shrapnel in his face due to being lodged against some nerves.
There are some incredibly tough people who walk among us and you cannot tell by looking who they are.
I hope that person figures out what God wants him to do.
ReplyDelete30-06 in the face and a major dirt bike drive himself home accident?
His daily pain tolerance must be high.
And I thought getting an ambulance blown out from under me by an IED was harsh.
Tough helps but luck (or God's protection ) helps.
I just finished reading the book Endure by Cameron Hanes. I'd never heard of him before but Hanes is a real-deal tough guy. Good book if you want to see what's possible if you're obsessed with being the absolute best you can be.
ReplyDeleteWow ERJ. There are indeed such individuals among us.
ReplyDeleteI met a Turkish/eastern man in my platoon that took a bullet to his head for America and earned his citizenship a year or two after. It probably would have killed him except that his NVG mounting plate gave his kevlar a little extra armor, or so the story goes. I wasn't there to witness the event but he was a thick build and probably had more hair on his chest than all of us combined, so I'm inclined believe the story at face value.
ReplyDeleteOne of my instructors at SOI west allegedly got shot in a lung and reported up his own 9-line. I didn't ask to see the scars, but I also believe him.
Plenty of other tough types, one was a platoon sergeant that wouldn't break character, no matter how much of a right he had to be angry at some things. I won't go into the guys with weightlifting injuries or heroic cases of alcohol poisoning.
My old man is one too, provides, provides, provides, and asks nothing in return. I have my gripes but if there is one thing I can say, he has woken up pretty much every day at 4-6AM, enduring a 1-2hr commute to and from Houston for decades, and continues to provide through a home business.
Strong people all around in different ways. Maybe I'll get my own foot in the door one day.
- Arc
Is his nickname "Lucky"?
ReplyDeleteThat is the name of his pet pig
DeleteYep, they exist and nobody knows for sure 'who' they are...
ReplyDelete