2009 was a rough year for cyclists in Fort Collins.  Two racers went down with life changing head injuries.  Stuart Culp in July and Tim Anderson in August.  Today marks the one year anniversary of Tims accident.  Here is his account of the last 365 days.

Tim Anderson

Dan asked that I update you all on my recovery at the one year “anniversary” of my accident in Vic’s Espresso Prospect Criterium, August 8, 2009.

We were the first category racing very early that day, and there were around 30 starters in 45+4s. I had managed to be about 10^th by the time the bell rang. I remember being inside as we turned south after going by the start-finish line for the last time The ACA Referee’s report said I touched wheels with another rider in that tight turn but think I may have been bumped into the temporary barricade fence defining the right inside of that corner by another rider “diving” to try to pass me. I think my “hooked” right handlebar caused me to “whip” (accelerate) around as I fell and my left back corner of my helmet was crushed in badly, indicating it was probably my worst point of impact. Apparently I was totally unconscious initially, and then semi-conscious by the time the ambulance arrived. I vaguely remember being comforted by teammate Heather McNeil while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.

I don’t recall much after I knew I was going down, but I do remember talking to the EMTs in my ambulance ride to Longmont Hospital. Once I was in the ER, I was in pretty good spirits, joking with the Dr’s and correcting them in their dictation of my injuries. I was scoring 14 out of 14 or 15 (depending on who you talk to) on the Glasgow Coma Index, which means I definitely wasn’t in a coma at all. An initial portable CAT scan showed a few minor left cerebral hemorrhages, consistent with a concussion. I also had four or five broken rt. ribs, a partially punctured rt. lung, and much road rash. My wife arrived from Fort Collins, and my son James arrived from Boulder within ~90 minutes of my arrival at the hospital. By around noon the Dr’s said Pat and James should go eat (they rushed in without eating any breakfast) and that they would continue to monitor my concussion, and tend to my other injuries.

Apparently, somewhere around that time I began complaining of “numbness” in either my right leg or arm, or both, so they took me to a better CAT scanner, and it showed I now had several “gushers” in my left brain, and they sent for the on-call neurosurgeon from Boulder. By the time Pat and James got back the Dr’s notified them of the complications, and were preparing me for surgery.  Sometime that evening the neurosurgeon arrived and opened the left side of my skull (craniotomy) to relieve the pressure, but by that time the damage had apparently already been done.  Traumatic Brain Injury appearing as a fairly typical concussion had escalated to my effectively having a “stroke” with severe right arm and leg “paresis” as the result. They refer to it as “paresis” and not “paralysis” but frankly at one year, it is uncertain to me as to which applies.

I was kept at Longmont’s ICU for nine more days, was visited by fellow brain injury survivor Saul Raisin (in Colorado with his parents promoting his Raisin Hope race in Golden the next weekend), and began to regain some ability to speak and understand. My parents and sister came out from Wisconsin, and Pat was by my side almost continuously. Rudimentary  (speech and cognitive) therapy began during that period, but I was “pretty out of it” during that whole 10 days.  Oh yeah. I had a pretty cyclist-nurse named Suzanne Duerksen whose dad was also a dentist, so she was extra nice to me, but alas, we were both already married.

On August 18^th, I was transported by ambulance to Craig Hospital in Englewood.  They are a nationally respected center for brain and spinal injuries. It is also where I met fellow Fort Collins cyclists Stuart Culp and Allen Baclasky, who had been struck by cars and suffered brain and other serious injuries. At Craig, I continued Speech, Cognitive, Physical, and Occupational Therapy, and also Psychological evaluation now on a more rigorous daily schedule. So many tests, MRIs, CAT scans, blood draws. No more brain surgery, thankfully.  Pat came down every weekend and stayed in the apartments they provided free to families that lived 50+ miles away. It’s kind of like conjugal visitation privileges for inmates in prisons (wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more!.......Monty Python). Our sons James and Jon visited frequently also, as did my parents and brother but other visitors were infrequent. Thanks to all of you who communicated with me via e-mail, my care pages, txt, and cell phone during those days. My mother-in-law gave me a haircut there as well.

Everyone was impressed by my cognitive and speech recovery during that period, but my body was slower to heal. (It still is) Pat and I also quickly concluded that I needed to retire from my profession of dentistry, as I was right handed, and it was unlikely I would be able to return to work, perhaps ever again. So we had to sell my practice on top of trying to get me well. My friend Dr. Ron Baker came out of retirement to tend to my practice (along with my excellent staff) beginning the first week I was in Longmont, and kept my patients served until about Thanksgiving when the Dr. that bought my practice could take over. On October 16^th (over two months from my crash) I was finally well enough to come home, but I still needed the wheelchair to get around.  We had to get a ramp built into our house for me to get to my local appointments over the winter, and since we have a two-story house we also had to set up a bed for me on a first floor den, as I wasn’t able to do stairs back then.

After Christmas 2009, I got a Saris 300 Pro stationary bike with the new CycleOps Power Tap/Joule computer head. My old cycling coach, Andy Clark wanting to help with my recovery, volunteered  to come to my house to help me get on the bike and get me clipped in so I can ride several times a week. Afterwards, he coaches me for strength. I don’t have very much of it, but it is improving., just very slowly.  Power Taps don’t lie.  Andy was my only cycling coach ever (don’t blame him, he also has many clients who are national champions). He is truly one of a handful of people who I am thankful for in my post-accident life. I met him back when he was still on Team Rio Grande, and he was helpful to my son James, then a junior trying to make it chasing faster guys like Tejay and Stockburger. I plan to try to get back into riding outdoors soon, starting with a tricycle, and then maybe stoking a tandem, (with an experienced captain. Are you listening Joe?)  My right leg is still too weak to get on a single yet, and my right arm couldn’t hold the bars or break a fall to the right, so I can’t go there. Hopefully someday.

My wife Pat, who many of you know, was and is the strongest and most loving  (also the most beautiful) person I have ever known, and I wouldn’t have come this far without her. You can extrapolate, based on my current level of disability, how much more she has to help me with these days, let alone the things she has to do for herself that I used to do for her. This is my “high point” of ability thus far, so imagine how low the first days after I got home from Craig must’ve been! Here’s an example you can try for yourself. Try putting on socks and shoes and tying them with one hand just hanging at your side. If you are right handed, be sure to only use the left, or vice versa. (hint. The CSU Occupational Therapy grad students who came to my house to work with me showed me how to string my shoelaces a special way, and taught me how to tie them with one hand).  Pat will start her full -time schoolteacher year next week. We have “tested the water” for our ability to travel in our retirement, and while it isn’t exactly like we had envisioned before my accident, it “ain’t too bad” either.

I was often quoted as saying that I had finally attained the best fitness of my entire life through bike racing. That was true, but I never got very fast, even while I was in the “bike business” for over ten years (beginning in High School and ending when I completed dental school) and I never actually began racing until age 45. While I had some crashes (and other non-cycling injuries) through the 7-8 years I raced, I believed competitive cycling was the key to my health. Road rash, broken clavicles, and ribs were fairly common race cycling injuries, and risks I was willing to chance, but I had never heard of anyone besides Saul Raisin who had gotten a TBI and coma from a crash in a race. My other crashes were fast to recover from, and I felt like I would extend my lifespan by bike racing. I always wore a good helmet, used the best equipment, and didn’t ride too aggressively or recklessly (ever).

I am obviously very disappointed at the turn my life took last August. I used to think I had been so fortunate in life up to that point, but people frequently said, “you make your own luck, Tim”.  Several reliable witnesses who saw my crash said I didn’t do anything wrong. They said it was another guy “riding aggressively and recklessly,” and five guys from BPN, who I had raced with a lot, (some of whom got caught up in the aftermath of my crash) had signed a formal complaint against him, saying he was notorious for his risky technique, but nothing came of it. I didn’t recognize his name, and obviously didn’t remember a lot of details of my crash.

I used to be the kind of guy who was always looking for ways to help the people in my life: family, friends, patients, and the community. It was easy and enjoyable, and it gave me a strong sense of “validity”.  Now, one year after my accident, I have to look harder for ways to “make a difference”, and not be in the way of others. Helping with the FCVA, NCCE and other cycling events is one way and volunteering at the bike Co-op is another. Having mechanical knowledge and experience, but only one functioning hand means I can’t do things while the client watches; rather I “talk them through it” with their hands (and our excellent tools) doing the repair. I do this a couple afternoons a week, and may add a third soon. I also may see if I can help Project Smile in any way, administration-wise. It is a program started by community business leaders, dentists, and other leaders to arrange to serve previously underserved kids in our schools. I was treating many such kids from Poudre High for the last couple years before my accident. The school year begins as the cycling events season slows down. I just finished the online placement test for CSU’s French Department and am considering “going back to school”, with a goal to finally become fluent,  after majoring in French before I was admitted to dental school over thirty years ago. M. Liprandi et M. Angelbear, arrêtez -vous gémir les gars!  (translation by Google!, don’t blame me……yet) . Those of you who know me will attest to the fact that the only thing I like to do as much as riding a bike and doing dentistry that I still can do is talk. Talking to the French will expand my one thing that I still can do, and besides, it will give all of you (not so fast Eric, Nico) a break from having to listen to me go on and on about my latest thing. Hope to see you soon.