[pct-l] Had an accident, got a trail name

[elisenme2 at gmail.com (Carl & Judy Rush)]

Hi Mike,

  It's good to hear that your home and are recovering nicely, keep us
all updated on you and your sons recovery.

                               Carl Rush

On 7/16/05, maurer@earthlink.net <maurer@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> 
> 
> A couple of weeks ago a post mentioned I had been in a motorcycle
> accident. After 16 days in the hospital I am now home and wanted to drop
> a quick note to the group. On June 28 my 14 yr. old son and I were on my
> Honda Goldwing and were hit head on going 50 MPH by a 78 yr. old driver
> who was driving with a suspended license (for medical reasons). He made
> an illegal left turn against a red light, right into us. Fortunately he
> has full insurance. I rammed into the front this mans' Cadillac and
> fortunately, my son Jackson was throw over the vehicle. Jackson broke
> his left tibia and suffered about 100 stitches to his left knee. He is
> recovering quickly and should be on his feet in August. I was not so
> lucky. My left femur was broken in two places and split up the middle.
> My left tib/fib were also broken in two places - just above my left
> ankle and about 2/3 up my leg. This second tib/fib break drove my bones
> and most of my left calf muscle outside of my lower leg on the left
> side. I also got a hairline break on C6 on my spine and therefore have
> been classified with a broken neck. This break is not serious, however,
> and will heal simply by wearing a collar for 6 weeks. We were airlifted
> to a San Diego trauma center and through the miracle of medicine the
> surgeons decided to rebuild my left leg using titanium rods rather than
> wait for it to heal naturally. I now have a ti rod running down through
> the entire length of both my femur and my tibia. My leg was enormous for
> a long time but the swelling is going down quickly and I'm starting to
> get around on crutches.
> 
> Throughout the course of time that has passed I have had a chance to
> understand how blessed the two of us are that we are still here to hike
> another day. It will be a long time before I hit the trail again but I
> am strenuously attacking my physical therapy in an attempt to get back
> to the person I was on June 27th. I had planned a thru-hike of the PCT
> through Oregon starting July 5, and have called each of the resupply
> points and asked them to donate my entire resupply package to the hiker
> box at each respective location.
> 
> I wanted to say thanks to the many folks who passed on get well emails
> to me directly and through Glen Van Peski, my partner. I also wanted to
> let you know that as a result of what happened my local hiking buddies
> are now referring to me as "Peg Leg". What an odd way to acquire a trail
> name.
> 
> Thanks again for your kind thoughts and while I'm not yet on the trail,
> for now I'm back on the list.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike "Peg Leg" Maurer
> 
> Gossamer Gear
> 
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