ANOTHER Serious Mountain Biking "Accident"
Mike Vandeman
biking is. Shallow journalism is the order of the day....
Mike
http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/530255.html?nav=5021
His son, his hero
Teen carries father to safety after bicycle accident
By BURTON COLE Tribune Chronicle
POSTED: November 29, 2009
Article Photos
Jeff Mostoller, left, and his son Aaron stand with their mountain
bicycles.
Jeff Mostoller never saw the tree root nudging out of the dirt trail.
The knobbed tire of his Mongoose mountain bike slammed into the root.
Mostoller and bike both went flying, he slamming facedown into puddle
of mud, the bicycle crashing across his back.
''I couldn't move anything'' from the neck down, he recalled.
It was May 15, and he was riding the winding, off-road trail in
Greenville, Pa., with his youngest son, Aaron, 15.
''When he first hit, I thought it was just another crash,'' Aaron said
as they talked about it five months later. ''And then he started
screaming my name, screaming for help. I didn't know what to do.
''I threw the bike off him,'' Aaron said. ''I rolled him over, not
knowing what to do next.''
Jeff's back remained in a rigid arch, his stomach stuck up in the air.
Trying to calm his son, he asked, ''Do I look fat?''
It was the next questions that further scared an already terrified
Aaron: ''Did my left hand move? Did my right hand move? Did my leg
move?'' No, no and no.
Aaron wanted to run for help. Jeff told him to stay by his side. Aaron
stayed, fighting tears, fighting the feeling that everything was his
fault. After all, wasn't he the reason his Dad hit the root?
He had been pedalling in the lead but was getting smacked in the face
by dew-misted cobwebs still clinging to overhanging tree branches. So
he called back to his dad to pass him. Ha! Let him get the cobwebs.
''I don't know how you got in front of me anyhow,'' Jeff said said.
''I'm usually in the lead.''
''You were going too slow,'' Aaron said with a grin.
Jeff passed, hit the root, and here they sat, Dad unable to move and
fading in and out of consciousness, son not able to leave him, no
other cyclists passing through and without a phone to make a call.
''I remember this so plainly,'' Jeff said. ''(Before we started to
ride,) he said, 'Should we take our cell phones?' I said, 'Naw,' and
we both left them in the car.''
After about 20 minutes, an excruciating pain started to overwhelm
Jeff. Feeling pain. That had to be better than feeling nothing, right?
Jeff finally allowed Aaron to get the phones from the van. The
Lakeview High School soccer player flew more than a mile back to the
car, saying it was the fastest he ran in his life. But when he got
back, his dad still would not permit him call 911. Nor did he want to
bother his two oldest children, Adam and Angela, both emergency room
nurses. A son-in-law also is a nurse. Jeff himself is an ultrasound
technician at Forum Health Northside Hospital.
Jeff simply called his wife, Lonnie.
''He called me and said, 'Something bad has happened,' and the phone
went dead,'' Lonnie said. ''He called again and said, 'Don't get
scared. Something bad happened. I think I'm paralyzed,'' and the phone
went dead. This happened three times.
''I was too far away, and I didn't know exactly where they were at,''
she said.
Jeff directed Aaron to get the bikes back to the car. Aaron propped
his dad against a tree and made the two-mile round trip twice more,
throwing up on the way back the last time.
Then the thin boy, who is about 3 inches shorter than his 6-foot-tall,
200-pound dad, lugged him down the trail.
''He carried me like an old drunken sailor out of the woods,'' Jeff
said.
''In retrospect, we should have left the bikes,'' Jeff mused.
''You think?'' Lonnie shot back. ''And you think you should have
called 911?''
''Had it been him,'' Jeff said, ''I would have left the bikes and
called 911. But when it's you, you're trying to reason it out. I'll
need the bike. I'm going to ride again.''
The truth of the matter is he was in shock and not thinking, he said.
And Aaron, in shock himself, was setting aside instincts and listening
to his dad, who, he knew, should know what he's talking about.
So, again at his dad's request, Aaron, a licensed driver for less than
three months, bypassed the hospital in Greenville to drive to
Northside.
Son Alex, then a Lakeview senior, met his family there. Alex was
heading out for lunch at school when he checked messages on his cell
phone. He heard his little brother's voice: He said, ''I think Dad's
dead,'' and he hung up.'' Sister-in-law Natalie also was on the
messages, and he found out more from her. Alex left school and met the
family at Northside.
''My dad was strapped down to a hospital bed, connected to five
different machines. He was just as scared as us,'' Alex said. ''His
face is still fresh in my mind. He had mud caked in his teeth and
hair, he was shivering, and he was all wet and bloody from his fall. I
just kept praying to God, 'I just wanted my dad to be OK.' ''
Jeff was flown by helicopter to Cleveland Clinic, where a bone from
his hip was fused into his neck, and two metal rods were placed along
his spinal cord.
''If he would have injured one vertebrae higher, he would have been
permanently paralyzed and on a tracheotomy.''
He returned home on a Tuesday.
''My dad was walking,'' Alex said. ''Just four days ago, he was
paralyzed. It amazed me.''
Jeff was off work 12 weeks. Most days still are pain-filled, and that
may continue for at least another year, Lonnie said.
''I'm doing pretty good compared to what I was, what I could be,'' he
said.
He's back to walking a mile and biking up to five miles at a time. He
used to pedal 20 to 50 miles an outing, but he figures he'll get
there.
Aaron doesn't care if he ever gets on a bike again. He knows he will
get back on the bicycle and ride. Some day. He won't hide behind his
fears forever. But it doesn't have to be today.
Jeff has his own goal: ''On May 15 of next year, we're going to go
back and examine the trail.''
Looking back, Jeff said, ''It really turned out to be a blessing that
it happened,'' Jeff said, ''just to realize how much love we have for
each other. And God's help. Our faith in God helped.
''Aaron saved me but it was my whole family that healed me. None of it
would have been possible without God.
''I never want to go through it again but it was such an eye-opening
experience and a heart-opening experience to see such an outpouring of
love.''
Friends, family, strangers... the family pets were tended to while the
family was at the hospital, donations were given and Lonnie said she
didn't have to cook for two weeks.
''Oh, this community ...,'' Jeff started before the rest of the
sentence was choked away by emotion.
Lonnie said she marveled at her own children. It's the goal of parents
to raise their children to grow into responsible adults who will do
the right thing. But to witness it in action, to see one's ''babies''
in their own profession and to watch them taking care of their dad and
the rest of the family in times of crisis - ''Wow,'' she said.
Aaron still struggles.
''I don't feel that I saved his life,'' he said. ''Without me, it
could have been worse, but I have it in my mind that it was my
fault.''
His family disagrees.
Jeff, an avid cyclist who often rides alone, countered, ''If I had
been by myself, the same thing would have happened.''
''He is not the reason Dad got in the accident; he is the reason my
dad is alive,'' Alex said.
''If it wasn't for Aaron,'' Lonnie said, ''Jeff may have not made it
out of those woods alive. Aaron, you are our hero! Thank you.''
Mike Vandeman
Jeff Strickland
"Mike Vandeman" <mike.v...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:283904ee-cdd4-4a50-bda5-
Mike Vandeman is a sick f---ing bastard.
He does not care about the tragedy that recreational sports brings to
families all across the universe each week, he only cares about the tragedy
that befalls mountain bikers, because these tragedies fit nicely into his
warped agenda so he has a robot that can search for them. Nice work Mike,
have a robot search the 'net for your shit, then post it from a Google
Groups account. What a f---ing rookie.
Moron.
Mike Vandeman
> "Mike Vandeman" <mike.vande...@gmail.com> wrote in message
I care, which is why I PUBLICIZE it. People like you who DON'T care
would rather that it be swept under the rug.
By the way, swearing is a sure sign of mental retardation. Which
INSTITUTION are you warehoused in?
Shraga
I couldn't agree more. Remember this?
"I saw two mountain bikers today. One was riding over the 15 MPH speed
limit. The other one was riding with his dog, and let the dog *shit*
in the park and didn't pick up after it." (emphasis added)
That was YOU posting on November 16.
So which INSTITUTION are YOU warehoused in?
Jeff Strickland
On Nov 29, 6:06 pm, "Jeff Strickland" <crwlrj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> "Mike Vandeman" <mike.vande...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:283904ee-cdd4-4a50-bda5-
>
> Mike Vandeman is a sick f---ing bastard.
>
> He does not care about the tragedy that recreational sports brings to
> families all across the universe each week, he only cares about the
> tragedy
> that befalls mountain bikers, because these tragedies fit nicely into his
> warped agenda so he has a robot that can search for them. Nice work Mike,
> have a robot search the 'net for your shit, then post it from a Google
> Groups account. What a f---ing rookie.
>
> Moron.
I care, which is why I PUBLICIZE it. People like you who DON'T care
would rather that it be swept under the rug.
<JS>
No, you don't care. You are so transparent!
Your agenda is certainly not to raise awarness of injuries at the handlebars
of a mountain bike.
</JS>
Mike Vandeman
>
> - Show quoted text -
Do you have a point? What is it?
Opus
> "Mike Vandeman" <mike.vande...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:3b6ba9e5-3c94-4356...@u16g2000pru.googlegroups.com...
> On Nov 29, 6:06 pm, "Jeff Strickland" <crwlrj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > "Mike Vandeman" <mike.vande...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> > news:283904ee-cdd4-4a50-bda5-
>
> > Mike Vandeman is a sick f---ing bastard.
>
> > He does not care about the tragedy that recreational sports brings to
> > families all across the universe each week, he only cares about the
> > tragedy
> > that befalls mountain bikers, because these tragedies fit nicely into his
> > warped agenda so he has a robot that can search for them. Nice work Mike,
> > have a robot search the 'net for your shit, then post it from a Google
> > Groups account. What a f---ing rookie.
>
> > Moron.
>
> I care, which is why I PUBLICIZE it. People like you who DON'T care
> would rather that it be swept under the rug.
>
> <JS>
> No, you don't care. You are so transparent!
>
> Your agenda is certainly not to raise awarness of injuries at the handlebars
> of a mountain bike.
>
> </JS>
You guys need to stop feeding the resident troll.
Mike Vandeman
>
> - Show quoted text -
Idiot. It makes no difference to me. Either way, I win, because I tell
the truth and you don't. DUH!