Biker Boy to the RESCUE! - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

ForbidInjustice · 04-04-2006, 02:23 AM

I had a memorable evening. It was about 1920 hrs, as I was coming back from Wal-Mart on the newly-washed and lubed Gixxer1000. I turned on a street leading to my neighbourhood. This street has quadplex housing on each side, and always kids playing around in random places.. but since it leads onto a main road, there are usually cars on it, 30mph speed limit. On my way to the store, I had seen the set of kids playing basketball near the house door, unsupervised. Safe place, but still.. without supervision.

Anyway, on the way back, I was right behind a gray car, scanning the road as always.. and a dog was chasing a child. The child ran into the street without looking.. and my memory recalls it vividly every time. The car struck the 4-year old child.. I saw it hit him -- run over him, and he rolled after it hit him with the back tire. I immediately jerked my bike to the side of the road.. jumped off, put my helmet and gloves on the ground next to it.. and yelled to a man who came out of his house: "CALL 911, NOW."

I ran over to where the boy had been hit, and one of his friends [also as young] picked him up, almost in a bearhug position, and was carrying him to the side of the road. I yelled at the kid to STOP and hand him to me. With the fear of a neck injury, moving him was the last thing that should have been done! I lifted his jaw and opened his throat. He was in complete respiratory arrest and had no pulse.. so I blew two rescue breaths into him... nothing.. then began a cycle of 15 compressions. At that time, I felt like panicking because it seemed like I was doing CPR on a dead little kid. I heard the most beautiful thing.. as he came back to life and I heard him struggle to breathe. I turned his entire body a little to the side, because there was blood in his mouth. Nice stable pulse, but breaths only every 25-30 seconds or so. EMS arrived a few minutes later.

Broken left femur, huge head wound [closed.. probably bleeding inside of his head]. He lost consciousness again in the ambulance, and they gave him a few drugs to stop him from breathing, so they could breathe for him.. then they airlifted him in the helicopter. I have yet to get his status, but since I am friends with one of the responding firefighter/paramedics, I'm going to do everything I can to see how he is doing.

This was encouraged on another thread months earlier.. bikers, TAKE A CPR/First Aid/BCLS class. Being on the open road more than other motorists [and not trapped in a cage], you see a LOT more, and you will find yourself one day in a critical situation that calls for you to render your best aid. This was my first, and I still get chills every time I think about those images.. I never want to experience it again.

Ride on wind!