As I mentioned in a previous post, I signed up for a “bikes and wine tour” which I went to this past Saturday (Jan 6th). It sounds like a very fun excursion, and for the one hour I was there I enjoyed myself greatly, however I extremely overestimated my bicycle riding skills. The trip consisted of riding a mountain bike to various wine tasting sites throughout the beautiful vineyards of Stellenbosch (about a 45 drive from Cape Town). I was extremely excited about this trip and immediately fell in love with the scenery. The only problem was that I was always a tad behind the rest of bikers and struggled to keep up because, ironically, I was afraid of falling off and getting hurt. I enjoyed the first wine tasting and was starting to warm up to riding the bike on the somewhat rocky path.
We were approaching the second wine tasting, Spier Wine, when the accident occurred. To draw out the picture: I was on a bike path, the train tracks were to my right, the street was a few yards to the right of the train track, and the Wine tasting was across the street. Most of the bike riders were already across the street and heading towards Spier, my friend Amanda had just crossed the train tracks and was waiting to cross the street, and there was a girl with one of the bike and wine employees about 50 yards behind me because she had gotten a flat tire. I was enjoying the scenery and loving life when I heard what I thought was an ambulance siren and assumed that an ambulance was coming down the street. Since the street was several yards away from me, and I thought that if I turned around to look at the ambulance I would fall off my bike. I proceeded to cross the tracks and meet my friend Amanda to cross the street. The next few parts are hazy but from what I can put together, I was about to cross the train tracks and even started to when I realized a train was coming from behind me (which was apparently what created the ambulance noise) and quickly tried to turn my bike back to the trail. The side of the train then hit my right arm and knocked me off my bike (away from the train). With a fear of getting run over/sucked under the train, I grabbed my bike and ran away. As I was running I could tell that something was severely wrong with my arm—my first fear was that it had completely been ripped in half because I had no control of it what so ever. I ran a few yards, sat down, grabbed the side of my arm and immediately knew that my bone had broken in half. It was not a pretty site but shock took over and the pain was not too bad at first. Amanda who had heard me screaming and was the closest ran over to me immediately and without hesitation calmed me down and called for help—I do not think I would have handled the situation as well as she did if I were in her position. The two people who were behind me then ran over and before I knew it I was surrounded by the bikes and wines employees, and a few of my friends. The tour guides had first aid kits with them so they stopped the bleeding with gauze and called the ambulance. I must admit that I handled it better then I thought I would—I was definitely freaking out but every now and then I would crack a joke while waiting for the ambulance. Most people’s first thought when asking about the accident is that the “wine tasting” aspect of the trip had impaired my judgment, however, I only had a few sips of wine and this accident would have happened regardless. My friends, especially Amanda, Taryn, Ariana, and Stephen were calming me down and were amazing. It was an ugly site and they stood by my side the entire time. When the ambulance came they put me on a stretcher and took me to the Stellenbosch Medi-Clinic hospital. I was allowed one friend to come with me and I immediately yelled for Stephen Watson, my best friend from University of Wisconsin who I have known since freshman year. Words cannot express how amazing Stephen was throughout this whole process. He was my contact to the hospital and to the rest of the world. The hospital needed an initial payment before I could have surgery and I didn’t have my medical insurance with me so he put down a payment on his own cared. He filled out all of the necessary forms, talked to the doctors, waited in the waiting room, and did the hardest job of all—telling my parents about what happened (you can only imagine my mom’s reaction). Knowing that Stephen came to the hospital and hearing that he would take care of everything put me at ease because he is the most reliable and caring person that I know. He handled everything perfectly and I am forever grateful for what he did that day and for how he has taken care of me since then. This accident would have been a billion times worse without him.
When I got to the hospital they eased the pain with morphine and took x-rays. They did x-rays of my entire body because a train had hit me and it amazed them that it could have only hurt my arm. What they found was a compound fracture of my humorous bone. The surgeon and the anesthesiologist then told me what they were going to do and next thing I knew I was in surgery. I now have a metal nail holding my bone together secured by 3 screws (these will remain in my bone forever).
The surgery went well and the next few days I spent resting in the hospital. I was very impressed with the hospital and felt I was treated just as well—if not better—then if I were in America. I am also very lucky because I never really felt lonely or abandoned at the hospital—I had a bunch of visitors everyday—some including my friends that I had only known for about 2 weeks but I felt I’ve known for much longer. I was overwhelmed with the amount of support my housemates gave me. My parents also got in contact with whomever they knew of in South Africa just to make sure I was okay. I would like to especially acknowledge my father’s great friend Clive Bayala who came the day after my surgery and took the role as my temporary family. Clive is originally from Durban, South Africa but is currently living in the Allentown, PA and soon moving to Florida. He happened to be visiting family in Johannesburg, South Africa and as soon as he heard that I had been injured immediately flew to the hospital to care for me. Even though I never met Clive before, he introduced himself to me as family and immediately made me feel better. He called my parents to give them the final reassurance that I was okay and sat with me hours each day at the hospital just to keep me company.
Other people were also very accommodating during my stay at the hospital. The travel agency that booked the bikes and wine trip often visited, drove my friends to the hospital, and helped with accommodations with my parents. People from “bikes and wines” also visited to see if I was okay. I got phone calls and/or visits from faculty at the University of Cape Town, the United States Embassy, and United States Consulate. The bottom line is that everyone both at home and in South Africa was beyond supportive and accommodating.
I have become somewhat of a celebrity here in Cape Town. There was an article about my accident in a few newspapers and I was even mentioned on the radio. There was even a large newspaper headline they posted on the street lamps. As funny as I find this, I also find it a bit it overwhelming and unnecessary since I feel like the story sounds so much worse then what actually happened. When people ask me how I broke my arm, I feel really silly telling them that I got hit by a train. A few people actually even heard the story on the news and cannot believe it when they see how well I am doing. I also think that the media made my accident seem worse to all of my friends and family at home. In one of the articles there is a picture of someone getting put into an ambulance. This picture, however, is just a random picture that the newspaper must have found off the internet because it is definitely not a picture of me.
The one thing that still puts me to tears is not when I think about the accident itself, but when I see all of the support and love that I am getting from friends and family. From the day after the accident, my phone blew up with e-mails, messages, and phone calls from dear friends and from people that I have not talked to for years. People said the nicest things and I felt extremely humbled by their words. I even felt that by how much attention I was getting I should have walked away from this with much more then a broken arm. Stephen Watson wrote a blog post that made me sound like a hero when in reality it was him and all of my other friends here who are the true heroes. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have such amazing friends and family. This experience has allowed me to see how much love surrounds me. Thank you all who have reached out to me and been so supportive.
I want to end this blog post by telling everyone how well I am recovering. I do not have to take any painkillers anymore and I can get around by myself very easily. I also want everyone to know how I understand how lucky I am. I do realize that my injuries could have been much more severe— anywhere from nerve damage in my arm to maybe even no longer being here today. This has made me appreciate life even more and ironically has made me an even happier person. I am enjoying every experience here to the fullest. I appreciate every single day and when someone asks me why I am so happy that I broke my arm my response is, “Because I am alive!”
