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There's always an option. Nobody should ever just get on the bike and take for granted
that it's going to be all right. You never know what's going to happen.
My husband was on deployment and at that time I was a flag rider and I'd been working pretty
long hours so I decided that I was going to go for a motorcycle ride. As we got on the
highway, a car cut off me and two other bikes and ran us off the road. Last thing I remembered,
before waking up in the hospital was, 'Oh this was going to be a good day,' and then
I woke up in the hospital. I was told that the car had come around the ramp on my right,
ran me off the road. My bike went one way and my body went another. Because of the eyewear
that I had on, which was to protect my eyes, it then shattered and broke, so when I hit
the pavement I skidded head first which caused me to break everything from my chin bone all
the way up to my eye socket. So it left me, you know, out on the highway with my eyeball's
completely out of my eye socket and it crushed everything in between. It was traumatic because
I started out trying to have a relaxing day, taking a break, to ending up, in less than,
you know, ten minutes my whole life was changed because someone didn't care enough to wait
for bikes to stop. If I didn't have the helmet on, I wouldn't be here, one. Two because it
was pretty bad. So it's just not something you recover from.
I just think it's very important that everytime you get on that bike, that you remember that
it's not only your life that you're, you know, you're putting out there; you're putting out
everybody around you and it could be another bike that's riding behind you. So I think
knowing how to stop on a dime; knowing your bike before you get on it; being in the proper
gear; knowing the people that you're riding with; make sure they obey and respect the
traffic signs, that's a big deal. Because if you don't, you're just out there speeding
and being, you know, careless, it gets you hurt. I mean I got hurt and we weren't doing
anything wrong, because somebody else did not obey and yield for us. So, it's something
that can be fun. It's something that you can do with your family. I love it, it's personal
time, but make sure you know what you're doing before you get on that bike.
That helmet saved my life.