The survivor of a life-threatening bicycle crash during a century bike ride in Oregon last summer wants to find and thank the bicyclists and passersby who saved his life.
Jim Phillips, 68, says he's alive today because of the cyclists who stopped on a screaming downhill descent during the Pioneer Century in Clackamas County on June 4 to give him aid.
“… it turns out I was bleeding profusely internally. Had I laid there,
I don't know how long, I would have suffocated had I not gotten out of
there,” Phillips told a reporter for KOIN-TV recently.
Lost control
Phillips had decided to put the hammer down on a descent near Molalla. His bike, which hadn't been tuned up in a while, started shaking on the way down, he lost control and went down a 20-foot embankment.
He tried calling for help and no one heard him. With the grisly survival movie “127 Hours” fresh in his mind, he started dragging himself uphill. If Aron Ralston could saw off his forearm wedged between a rock and a hard place, Phillips said he could struggle uphill.
As soon as he reached the road, several cyclists and some passersby stopped. One, an EMT, held his head to immobilize it while the others tended him until the paramedics came.
Turns out Phillips had a broken neck, eight broken ribs and punctured lungs. His helmet was cracked in three places.
The Pioneer Century is presented by the Portland Wheelmen Touring Club and draws more than 1,000 cyclists. The next Pioneer Century is scheduled for June 2, 2012.
Red Cross
I'm sure we'd all like to thank those Good Samaritans who stopped. It's good to know that there are folks on these big rides with life-saving skills who aren't afraid to stop and help a fellow cyclist.
It also brings home the importance of knowing basic first aid and CPR to help riders who might have crashed or suffered medical problems on a ride. The American Red Cross regularly presents classes on the topic.
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