Dear Patriot and other members who read the bike crash thread

tman480

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Patriot,

I am the rider of the motorcycle from your thread in september that crashed.

I just found the site and you, I know we are neighbors but I wanted to get on here and Thank You for calling 911 you very well may have saved my life!

I spent almost 2 months in the hospital healing, I did come out without one leg and alot of damage but for sure a second lease on life! That one I won't forget! I wanted to say thank you to the other members who were saying positive things also.

As this was an accident the bike was highly modified however the day of the accident it was believed to be having several electrical problems aleast that is the word from Suzuki so far. I don't know I barely remember the day.

I wish I could shake your hand Patriot again I might only be typing because of you and some higher power!

Thank You,
Tom
 

BVH

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I sent Paul a PM on this thread. You need to have a couple of posts before you get Private Message privileges. I'm glad you're still with us!
 

tman480

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I sent Paul a PM on this thread. You need to have a couple of posts before you get Private Message privileges. I'm glad you're still with us!

Thank You so much man! I realized the rules about pm's
 

Patriot

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Tom, I can't tell you how happy I am to know that you're doing well. On day of the incident I must have prayed for you and your family about 20 times and then many more times after that over the following months. In fact, I don't drive by the spot without thinking about you, which seems strange since we've never met. In any case the incident weighed heavy on me which is part of the reason that I shared it here. I somehow feel obligated to apologize for the reckless comments that others made in that thread since the reasons for the accident were purely speculative, which I thought that I had conveyed in my original post. If not perfectly conveyed there, I did make a point of in a later post. Turns out my guesses were completely wrong since it sounds as if the accident due to mechanical reasons, but no intentional disrespect was ever intended toward you. Not having seen the whole event, only hearing and seeing the bike's path, I couldn't possibly wrap my mind around how it could have happened.

As for the possibly of having saved your life...I can only pass that responsibility over to "Higher Power" that you spoke of Tom. That's the God who created all things including you and I. There were a whole bunch of prayers being sent up for you that day, including those from a woman on the scene who knelt down next to you praying with her hand against your back until the paramedics arrived. There were several people in tears there out of concern for you. I'm happy that the Lord answered my prayers and those of others there, and that you're here with us today. I imagine that feeling is even more magnified in your own family. :)
 

Patriot

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Also Tom, I just wanted to mention that I had made follow up calls to the Phoenix PD and local fire to see if you were alright but they were not allowed to provide any information other than to say that it wasn't a fatality. That alone was very good to hear but still had no way up contacting you. With that stated, I'd be honored to shake your hand sometime. :thumbsup:

As BVH stated, once you make two posts here on the forums you'll be able to use the Private Message feature.

Paul
 

ANDREAS FERRARI

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I remember back when Patriot started the thread concerning that accident.I'm glad to hear your alive Tom.At the time I thought that perhaps your bike had experienced some sort of mechanical failure.The same thing happened to a friend of mine back in High School.Luckily he was wearing full leathers and a helmet and only suffered minor injuries when he bailed from the bike.
 

tman480

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Also Tom, I just wanted to mention that I had made follow up calls to the Phoenix PD and local fire to see if you were alright but they were not allowed to provide any information other than to say that it wasn't a fatality. That alone was very good to hear but still had no way up contacting you. With that stated, I'd be honored to shake your hand sometime. :thumbsup:

As BVH stated, once you make two posts here on the forums you'll be able to use the Private Message feature.

Paul

Paul,

I'm so glad you saw this thread, I don't believe thank you is the right set of words for me to say to you! As you mentioned I would be honored to meet you in person and shake your hand. Also you mentioned the lady who prayed next to me, I did get the chance to meet her and her husband while I was still in the hospital. Meeting them almost brought me to tears, but I could not have been happier to meet them and get to thank them in person. Paul, please don't worry about some of the people in the original thread I know how people can be, and me being a bike racer I don't even know what to think when I see the scene of the accident. All I know is the bike would not shut down and the throttle was sticky from what the manufacturer is telling me. Like an idiot I should have just bailed alot earlier, but I thought I could work it out I guess and I didn't want to hit someone or someones house with the bike.

Paul, as I said I would be honored to meet you! After all we are neighbors, but I would feel like I was starting to repay you by atleast thanking you in person. I'm not good at this so if I should be saying more please understand that I am sorry I am just happy that I get to thank you for helping save my life! If you would like I can pm you my number and we can talk about a meeting if you are ok with that?

Again as for everyone else in here and on this board that has said good things, thank you for the kind words I can't thank you enough!

To the moderators thank you for letting me type this thread!
 

iapyx

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dear Tman480,

So glad to read you came out of it alive. I've read it back then and it had a lot of impact.
You've had some really bad luck and also luck to be able to share with us what happened.
How did you find out to look here for member Patriot?
Anyway, it's nice to read you two might meet eachother.
And who knows we can help you with another hobby: flashlights!
:) We'll be more than happy to tell you all about them.
Maybe Patriot will start?

regards,
iapyx
 

tman480

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dear Tman480,

So glad to read you came out of it alive. I've read it back then and it had a lot of impact.
You've had some really bad luck and also luck to be able to share with us what happened.
How did you find out to look here for member Patriot?
Anyway, it's nice to read you two might meet eachother.
And who knows we can help you with another hobby: flashlights!
:) We'll be more than happy to tell you all about them.
Maybe Patriot will start?

regards,
iapyx

As for finding the thread a friend of mine found it while I was in the hospital. She was looking for info on the accident and found the old thread. She then started posting because of some of the bad posts. I found the thread because she printed Patriot's pictures for me to see since I didn't remember much. Once I read the thread I knew I had to join to pay thanks where it was due, and hopefully one day in person. The bad stuff doesn't really mean much after all I did just survive a near death accident, I need to think about other things not people with bad attitudes on the net.

As for the hobby I defiantly need another one I will be checking the site out to see what you guys have goin on!
 

Patriot

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How did you find out to look here for member Patriot?

If you search, "terrible motorcycle accident" you'll see the original thread but I'm not going to link it here since it was closed.




Tom, that would be great if you'd like to PM me your number. My schedule has been busy lately but I'd very much enjoy meeting you sometime this coming week if your schedule allows. Tues or Wed sometime would be perfect for me. :twothumbs

It's so interesting to hear that your friend printed my pictures for you to see and remember. It must have been strange for you to look at them but it turns out that they were pretty well detailed. I'm not sure if remembering is a good thing or not but perhaps they've helped you. If so, I'm very glad for that.

I'll look forward to making your acquaintance Tom. :)
 

tman480

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If you search, "terrible motorcycle accident" you'll see the original thread but I'm not going to link it here since it was closed.




Tom, that would be great if you'd like to PM me your number. My schedule has been busy lately but I'd very much enjoy meeting you sometime this coming week if your schedule allows. Tues or Wed sometime would be perfect for me. :twothumbs

It's so interesting to hear that your friend printed my pictures for you to see and remember. It must have been strange for you to look at them but it turns out that they were pretty well detailed. I'm not sure if remembering is a good thing or not but perhaps they've helped you. If so, I'm very glad for that.

I'll look forward to making your acquaintance Tom. :)

Paul, I did see the original thread trust me I'm very aware of how much you did to help save my life! I read the entire thread before posting this one. As far as the pics I'm not sure if they helped or hurt they kinda give me the imoression I was trying to get the bike to die or stall, since the factory tels me about the issues. I must not have seen the rock coming or thought I would hit the pole. Either way I did like seeing how detailed they were. I sent you a pm with my cell number please call me so we can set up a time maybe wednesday. Let me know where you were thinking of meeting at one of our houses or for lunch or whatever.

Great talking to you again!
Tom
 

Patriot

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Paul, I did see the original thread trust me I'm very aware of how much you did to help save my life! I read the entire thread before posting this one. As far as the pics I'm not sure if they helped or hurt they kinda give me the imoression I was trying to get the bike to die or stall, since the factory tels me about the issues. I must not have seen the rock coming or thought I would hit the pole. Either way I did like seeing how detailed they were. I sent you a pm with my cell number please call me so we can set up a time maybe wednesday. Let me know where you were thinking of meeting at one of our houses or for lunch or whatever.

Great talking to you again!
Tom




I mentioned the original thread info for member iapyx since he was asking about how you found me.

My intuition was sort of telling me that it might seem a bit surreal to be looking at the accident scene in such detail. You certainly fought that bike for a long distance but it all happened so fast as viewed from my perspective.

Thanks for the PM Tom, I'll go read and respond to it right now. :)
 

iapyx

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I mentioned the original thread info for member iapyx since he was asking about how you found me.

My intuition was sort of telling me that it might seem a bit surreal to be looking at the accident scene in such detail. You certainly fought that bike for a long distance but it all happened so fast as viewed from my perspective.

Thanks for the PM Tom, I'll go read and respond to it right now. :)

Hi Patriot, I did read that thread back then. I was only wondering how he found out about CPF. Once here it's easy to find you :)
Anyway, it looks like the two of you will meet.

iapyx
 

LuxLuthor

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WOW, cool thread. It's not every day that someone from CPF contributes directly to saving someone's life, taking all those photos in the other thread, and then gets connected and thanked by the person from the accident. It's all pretty cool to see happen, and without a doubt to one of the most wonderful members here at CPF, Patriot.
 

Patriot

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:eek: Gosh Lux, thanks man. Most here know through other threads that I have a very similar opinion of you as well.


I did speak with Tom on the phone this afternoon for about 20-30 minutes. He's a genuinely super nice guy and it seems we have many things in common. We've made arrangements to meet in person tomorrow and we'll likely be talking each others ears off. I'm really looking forward to meeting!
 

Patriot

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I wanted to add something very profound, in it's own post, concerning the specific event of Tom crossing the street from the right side sidewalk to the left sidewalk. There were only three eye witnesses to this whole event who I spoke with right after making the 911 call. There were 3 kids, ages 10-14ish who were walking along the right sidewalk about 100 yards from the light pole. Tom doesn't remember the event or even the whole day leading up to it but upon seeing my pictures, he did remember the kids who were on the sidewalk. Chances are that Tom crossed the street in order to avoid these kids and it's an additional explanation as to why he didn't bail from the bike earlier. People to who know a bit about motorcycles understand that they actually have quite a bit of gyroscopic effect from the wheels at speed and don't automatically fall over just because the rider gets off. If Tom had bailed off it could have endangered these kids on foot or easily gone into someone's living room. In any case, I was quizzing these kids for information, about what they saw, if anyone else had been hurt, if they knew the rider personally and so on. They told me that they saw the motorcycle coming toward them until it veered across the street to the other sidewalk. Tom probably wouldn't say this himself but it's very possible that he was actually the "hero" this day (along with the medical teams) and prevented serious injury or death to those kids by hanging on to his full throttle machine for a couple of seconds longer. The bike crashed about 50-75 yards behind where the kids were standing as I drove up the street about 35 seconds later.
 

Patriot

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I stopped by Tom's house and met him for the first time yesterday. It was really neat to shake hands with someone who at one time I thought wasn't going to make it. I'm sure happy that the Lord spared him though. He's a very nice person, level headed and squared away, calm demeanor, very professional at his job, enjoys life, loves people and has a huge number of friends. In fact, he had so many people visiting him in the hospital that they cut off his visits at one point. We talked about his accident, motorcycles, cars and guns. We even talked about flashlights for a bit. Him Mom stopped my while I was there and I so I met her as well.

Tom was working on his motorcycle in his garage and had to take it around the block to check something when he was faced head on with his life threatening accident. Tom is a fighter and is working hard to push through his other injuries. He's on a rigid and regular PT program that he'd dedicated to and spends a lot of time learning and researching about being an amputee. He even made acquaintances with another motorcycle accident amputee to learn everything that he can.

To the PM/S I received in the past couple of days it's pointless for me to even respond. I will say that I don't hold grudges but that you were sadly mistaken in your speculation. Tom is not a maniac, he didn't steal the bike, he doesn't do drugs, he doesn't drink, wasn't mad at anyone and wasn't suicidal. He was enjoying a relaxing day in the garage spending time with the hobby that he loved when he made the mistake of going around the block without his full riding gear on. Oh yes, he's an experienced racer both in cars and on sport bikes.




Tom, thanks again for looking me up and meeting you was great. Looking forward to meeting up with you next week sometime. Stay strong! :thumbsup:

Paul
 
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