“This is my nephew Reese.
He will be 19 this month. He was a high school athlete, and recently discovered a love for dirt bikes and stunts.
He didn’t think wearing a helmet was necessary, despite his auntie telling him otherwise.
‘I know, I will,’ I can still hear his voice saying these words to appease me.
Right now I can’t hear his voice at all because he is on a vent with a serious brain injury (in addition to other body damage). He is in a coma.
Last night I watched as three nurses (the sweetest women) bathed him and checked his catheter.
I couldn’t help but think how embarrassed he would be if he knew.
But he doesn’t know.
And he doesn’t know that I sat at his bedside and read him the dissertation I was grading. He doesn’t know yet that his bike is totaled, or that his head is shaved, or that he has a metal rod in his leg.
He doesn’t know how many people are praying for him to wake up and be okay.
He doesn’t know that I am afraid to cry for him, because once I start, I don’t think I will be able to stop.
He doesn’t know that I’ll be there when he wakes up, that I will hug and kiss him, and remind him that he promised me he would wear a helmet.
So if you ride, if you have people in your life who love you, or depend on you, if you love your life, love those who care about you, I beg you to wear a helmet.
It may not be ”cool”, it may not make you feel as carefree, but I’m fairly confident that you prefer not to end up with a vent, a feeding tube, a central line, an intercranial pressure monitor drilled into your skull.
Shared with permission from Summer Brown Parrott
Even if you are a responsible rider, you cannot control what other drivers are doing.
Please wear a helmet. Please.”