News
Cyclist critical after hit by car
09:09 AEST Thu Aug 4 2005 News on Steve Ikin
AAP
A cyclist was critically injured when he was hit by a car in Brisbane.Police
said the cyclist was on a road in Chelmer, western Brisbane, on Wednesday
evening when a car travelling in the opposite direction turned right, hitting
him.The cyclist was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital where he was in a
critical condition.
Email me on any responce
E-mail
I wish Steve a speedy recovery,
Wish I could say something to
make it all better.
Doesn't matter how good a rider you are ,
this can happen anywhere anytime.
We need to change the public's perception of cyclists. We need for the drivers
of motor vehicles to understand how vulnerable cyclists are in a confrontation
with a motor vehicle and we need to educate drivers to be vigilant and more
aware of cyclists on our roads.
Latest Update on Steve Ikin.
22 August from
Chris Neil
I have just been up to visit Steve, he is in good spirits and there has been
great improvement, Steve is sitting up in bed and talking, Kerry went back to
work today and Steve's mother is still with him.
Steve can now have visitors (see Kerry's email below) and is healing well.
Some of Steve's conversations are at times a little vague or disjointed but he
is definately recognising people and asked me about racing, he wants to go to
the Grafton - Inverell next month !! then he clarified that with, "only to
watch".
When I was there his doctor explained that he was just about finished with him
as far as his physical injuries are concerned and that shortly he would be
transfered to the Head clinic, where he would be assessed further with regard to
any damage associated with the brain.
The doctor explained this could be at least 2 months of tests and treatment all
conducted in house, so Steve will be a resident for some time yet.
Official visiting hours are between Noon and 2pm and 4pm and 8pm but you can
virtually go any time during the day,
Chris Neal
Hello everyone
Am emailing from work, because I am having problems with Steve's
computer. Consequently I have hardly anyone's email address.
Steve can have visitors, but he still gets tired quickly. He can have
visitors till up to 8pm at night, but he usually is looking to get to
sleep by responsibility so it would be great if you visit if you come up before
then.
He is in Ward 2A.
He would love people to come and visit.
Kerry Sparshott
16th August
Hello everyone
Sorry I haven’t let you know what is happening for a while, but I have been
having problems with the computer mouse.
Steve has finally (after 12
days) left intensive care. He has been moved to a high dependency ward – mainly
because the doctors feel he is trying to escape from the bed! I know I mentioned
that as soon as he was on a ward I would let you all know so you could come and
see him, but unfortunately he is still nowhere near being able to have visitors.
I (and his mum) have spoken to the doctors and nurses who say it will be 1 to 3
weeks before they would expect Steve to be able to have visitors. But please be
assured as soon as it is possible I will let you know and Steve would love to
see you all. It is Steve’s birthday on Thursday and I had hoped people would be
able to visit but at this stage it doesn’t look possible.
Thank you to everyone who has
sent an email, card or phoned with your support. They will all get to Steve. I
was able to take a few cards up today and show him, but think I will need to
show them to him in a few days as he may forget. You have no idea how much
Steve will appreciate all your messages and I am sure he will overwhelmed as I
have been.
He is now off all sedation,
and only on panadol for pain relief. He is still constantly trying to get out
of bed and tries to pull himself up using either the sides of the beds of else
he will put his arms around my neck and then try to pull himself up. I feel
like everytime he does something we have to stop him and he must be getting fed
up with us, but we try to explain that he has hurt his back, neck, ribs, jaw,
etc and he need to stay in bed for a while yet. Each day he is improving.
Today he would respond everytime we asked him a question. When I told him it
was time for me to go home, he said ‘I am coming too’ and of course it upset me
to have to say sorry but you have to stay there.
When the nurse was asking us
if the doctors had told us the extent of Steve’s injury, Steve quickly said ‘not
really’, so he is obviously trying to understand what has happened. When I now
ask him does he know he is in hospital he usually says yet. His physio, Fiona,
was telling him she does triathlons and she asked him what sort of bike he has
and he said ‘Avanti’
We did make out today that he is concerned with his work at Sicame and was
saying there is still a lot of work for him, and it is very complex. I have told
him that it will still be there when he gets out of hospital, not that I am
expecting Steve to wait until he is out of hospital before he starts asking for
his laptop.
I am probably making it sound like he is talking just like normal and you may
wonder why you can’t visit. He is still very sick and, as you know has many
fractures. Also he is still not really aware of what is going on and when he
talks it is one/two words and is very difficult to understand.
Also the paramedics that
attended him popped in last night to see him. They said they are astounded he
is still alive. They were sure he wasn’t going to make it. Of course his mum
and I were so grateful to them and just saying thank you seemed so inadequate.
Will keep you informed as to when you can come and visit.
Love Kerry and Steve
16th August
Guys and Girls, text from Vince 6pm last night,
"Steve is out of icu and on a ward. He's awake and healing. Access is still
limited at this stage. Kerry best point of reference"
I rang Kerry this morning and Steve is still in a fair amount of pain but is
talking and has limited movement in his limbs currantly.
Steve is breathing by himself (no tubes !!) and is on some sedatives so he can
sleep, Kerry is with him every day and they are restricting visitors.
Kerry said she will let us know when he will be strong enough to recieve
visitors possiably within the next 2 weeks,
I spoke to a cyclist at Park road last Saturday whose friend was running on
Laurel ave. when Steve passed him on the bike, he heard the crash and ran back
to Steve and stayed with him untill the Ambulance arrived (which was 20 mins!).
The runner thought Steve was deceased as a result of the accident as he was not
breathing, he only found out last week that Steve was still alive !!!
So how tough is this boy !!!!
Chris Neal
12th August
Hi everyone
just wanted to shoot out a short note to update on Steve.
The operation on his neck went well. The surgeons removed a disc in his
neck and fused two vertebrae together. There will be only about a 5%
reduction in movement in Steve's neck, however it will greatly improve
the protection for his spinal cord ..... good deal!
Steve has started to breath on his own now and the sedative level has
been reduced. Yesterday he tried to talk, although with his sore throat
from the tubes that had been down there and with broken ribs etc. - this
was very difficult.
Kerry was thinking that after all her selfless efforts to be by his
side, he would say something like "I love you" or, "lets get married" or
something like that. But not our Steve ... hardcore to the end, Kerry
said that the first muffled words that she could make out were .... " I
want to do the Airport ride".
Steve remains in the ICU and will be there still for the short term. The
indications are that he is improving all the time, however it is still
early days. Fingers crossed he will be on the ward soon, hopefully
before next Thursday, the 18th - Steve's 49th Birthday.
Kerry has again said that the support and e-mails has been great. She
holds copies of them all so Steve can read then all later.
I will of course update when I know more
Stay Safe
Vince
8th August
Hello everyone
He is still in
ICU and not much has really changed. He is quite a bit aware today. It is a bit
distressing when he reaches for the breathing tube, but luckily (or not) we are
all stronger than him and are able to put his hand back down and try to reassure
him that it is okay. I keep telling him that this is only temporary and he just
has to stay like this for a few days. I know he probably doesn’t know what is
going on, but I worry that he is lying there thinking he is going to stay like
that.
All the cuts on
his face are healing really well. Vince was there on the night of the accident
– For those who don’t know there was a nurse who was a cyclist who went through
Steve’s mobile and recognized Vince’s name and that is how they identified
Steve. They contacted Vince and said who owned the phone, so Vince very kindly
rushed straight to the hospital and helped them to contact me. Vince popped up
tonight, and as he was there on the night the accident happened, we thought it
would be good for him to come in and he could see the change and let everyone
know that he has seen Steve and he is looking a bit better. I would love to be
able to sneak everyone in, but I am sure Steve would rather you see him when he
is feeling a bit better. As soon as Vince came in and said hello Steve opened
his eyes straight away! Vince has been absolutely wonderful in his support (as
has everyone) and has been very kind to Steve’s mum and his sister. When the
accident happened I couldn’t ring his mother so Vince did this for me and I am
very grateful to him for doing that. I know it would have been difficult for him
to pass the message onto Steve’s mum and sister but he was fantastic and of
course they think he is absolutely wonderful for helping out.
We are now not
sure about the surgery on Wednesday. They said today that they may decide not
to operate. If they do that they may also decide to put in a tracheotomy (I
think that is how it is spelt) soon which, even though he would be left with a
scar, we would be happier about because then they can wake him up and he won’t
feel like he is choking. I think once he wakes up and they can take him off the
breathing equipment he will be able to go to a ward – so that could end up
happening in a couple of days.
If they do
decide to operate he may not be woken up until maybe the weekend, but each day
he is asleep he does not feel any pain.
The nurse today
asked him to blink once for yes and twice for no. She then asked him if he was
in any pain, he blinked twice but there was just a little bit longer pause then
we would have liked so we can’t be sure that he was answering us – but I like to
think he was and is not feeling any pain. He is still on morphine constantly
and each time you go in (we are experts at reading all the machines now) they
change his dose. Not sure why. One nurse came in and put it up and said may as
well make him happy whilst he is there. I said I hope once he isn’t discharged
I am not going to be forced to be making drug deals at West End for him!
The doctors also
seem to be less concerned about the lack of oxygen. They said his movements are
a good sign and that he is ‘able to obey commands’ also (eg wiggle your toes,
blink your eyes, etc. When he was admitted they did a scan, but they said they
are never really confident until they wake them up.
Anyway I don’t
have much news – which is probably good. Each time he opens his eyes I tell him
that everyone has been asking about him and that you are all keen to come and
visit him when he is in the ward. I have printed out all your emails to him to
give to him when he is feeling better.
Chris Neal –
could you forward this onto Yvonne and Byron, Jo Formosa, and I am sure there
are plenty more people I don’t have an email address for so please let them know
as well. Oh also Paul Pengilly. Sorry for putting in a personal message
here for Yvonne and Byron but I don’t have your email address – thank you so
much for the flowers and card. Steve (and I) are so grateful for your message
of support and for the flowers to cheer me, his mum and his sister up at home.
I will be showing Steve the card as soon as he is feeling okay.Also someone left
some chocolates on the doorstep. I don’t know who it was as the card was
sealed, but thank you very much and Steve will love them and we will find out
who they were from when he is put into a ward into the hospital.If anything
signicant happens I will email you again, but at this stage I probably won’t
have much news till later in the week.
Love Kerry and Steve
7th August
He is doing quite well today.
He is still in ICU and we expect that he will stay there for a few days yet.
They did an MRI yesterday to look at his spine and neck and he has moved his
arms and legs so that is a relief to both us and the doctors. I had thought I
had seen his legs move, but then started to think I was imaging it, and the
doctors looked at me quite skeptical when I said I had seen it. They expect to
operate again on Wednesday. We are taking that as a good sign that they are not
insisting on operating immediately. For his neck they said that he has snapped a
ligament and they are going to repair that with a plate. In relation to his
back they said they are going to manage that conservatively, and I think they
mentioned putting a plate in as well. Sorry if I seem a bit vague, but I do
listen when they tell me, but then later I appear to get the message confused!
He had surgery on Friday to
repair his jaw, the cuts on his face and his left knee. His jaw was broken in
two places and that has now been wired together. He had quite a large cut on his
left knee and initially they had just planned to clean it out during surgery and
come back to fix it a few days later. But I assume (sorry I am confused with
what they did again!) they looked at it in surgery and it wasn’t as bad as they
thought so they fixed it then. They sewed up the cuts on his face as well. On
the right hand side is where all of the cuts are. The left hand side there is
not a mark on it. But they have all been fixed now and I expect him to look as
good as ever. There is only one large cut on his forehead, and the rest were
smaller cuts. Apart from those marks on his body and a little bit of bruising
around his neck and ribs you would never know he has had such a serious
accident.
He still has the breathing
tube in and we don’t know when this will be able to come out – I expect we have
to wait until this comes out before he leave ICU. They tried to wake him up a
little bit the other day but he started moving around too much (but at least we,
and the doctor, got to really see his legs move). Apparently they often start to
think they are choking when they wake up a bit and that is why they get restless
and start trying to pull out the breathing tube. So he was put back to sleep. We
are really anxious for him to wake up and be able to talk to him, reassure him
and tell him how much we love him, but we know that whilst he is asleep he is
getting better and not feeling any of the pain. Also with all the fractured
ribs he has they say it will be extremely painful for him to breathe on his own
so they want to keep it in – but as you would understand we are worried that he
will be distressed waking up feeling that he is choking.
Today they reduced his
sedation a bit, so several times when we would go into the room and speak to him
he would open his eyes. I know he probably doesn’t know what we are saying, but
we hope he recognizes our voices and that he feels a bit re-assured. They said
they might reduce the sedation a bit more tomorrow so hopefully he will react
even more to us. But having said that if they are operating on Wednesday they
don’t want to wake him fully and then say – ooops time for surgery we are just
putting you back to sleep – wouldn’t be very fair. At least once he wakes up we
can find out the final issue of what effect the low oxygen for 20 minutes has
had. Hopefully none, but we will wait and see, so please keep all your fingers
crossed.
If you have rung and I
haven’t called you back, please don’t feel that your calls are unwelcomed. I do
get the messages but then can’t remember who I have spoken to or who I haven’t.
We can’t have the phones on when we are in ICU so you will usually get message
bank. We are home by 8.00/8.30 at night, so if you wanted to speak to me you
can call then, or in the morning before 10am, or keep trying during the day and
you might catch me when I have just popped out of ICU for a break. I don’t mind
at all how many times you call.
His sister Carol is here and
will be able to stay at least until Wednesday. His mum is here as well and will
stay for a while yet.
Unfortunately there are no
visitors allowed in ICU. I was able to sneak someone in the other day as I knew
the nurse had just ducked out, but don’t expect that I would be able to sneak
anyone else in. I will pass on all your good wishes to Steve and he will
definitely be expecting lots of visitors once he is placed in the ward.
Also thank you all for you
offers of help to me – it is really appreciated and I don’t know how I could
ever repay you all for your kindness.
Love Kerry (& Steve)
Update 5/8/05
Steve had is operation last night to repair his jaw in the hope that
he would be able to breath by himself, he is still in the induced coma but there
is arm and leg movement so things are looking a little more positive.
Steve had a scan today to try and determine if there is any brain damage, no
news on this yet.
Steve's mum and sister flew in from Adelaide this afternoon, Vince picked them
up from the Airport.
Chris
Update 4/8/05
Some more news on Steve, the accident was on Laurel ave.
Chelmer (I thought the safest piece of cycling road in Brisbane!).
Steve's injuries include, both collar bones broken, a badly crushed chest with
6-7 shattered ribs, and a smashed jaw, the latter injuries are why he is being
kept unconscious as he cant breath by himself.
Steve is having an operation this afternoon to repair the jaw to allow him to
breath normally.
Kerry states Steve is stable and will be in ICU for several days,
I have been getting information off Rob Battle and Vince McLaughlin, if you know
these people and need more information feel free to ring them or myself.
I have only had contact with Kerry via text messages and I will give here a few
more days before I ring,
Chris Neil.
Comments made by some
brainless twit who calls himself the Spoonman on triple M
Now I may be just a dumb car driver but how come
cyclists don't have to be registered or pay any kind of insurances to use the
roads. How someone very select section of the community (cyclists) pay nothing
for the right to scratch or dint your cay or take out your side mirror as they
skim through lanes.
Cyclists don't have to take any kind of responsibility
to the damage they might do to your car as they are totally anonymous ,have no
insurance & no third party property , So if a cyclist hits you effetely for
insurance purposes it's your fault no matter what actually happened & no rego
means they can break every road rule there is when they like , go through red
light camera you name it
Everyone else who uses the road has to pay something
for the privilege, everyone else has to be identifiable by rego or license &
everyone else has to have insurance & everyone else has to be accountable
when they break the road rules ,Unless you ride a
vehicle called a push bike ,
the road using equivalent of a royal family I recond.
Bloody Free Loaders The
spoonman Allis (The dickhead)
From Ben Wilson BQ manager
Now I may be just a dumb car driver
[BQ
Manager] YEP but how come cyclists don't have to be registered or
pay any kind of insurances to use the roads.[BQ
Manager] MANY DO ACTUALLY How someone very select section of the
community (cyclists) pay nothing for the right to scratch or dint your cay or
take out your side mirror as they skim through lanes.[BQ
Manager] AS IF PEOPLE WHO DENT YOUR CAR IN A CAR PARK HANG AROUND TO PAY!
Cyclists don't have to take any kind of responsibility
to the damage they might do to your car
[BQ Manager] EXCEPT THEY ARE LIKELY
TO HURT THEMSELVES BADLY AND DONT INTEND TO DAMAGE CARS as they
are totally anomamus
[BQ Manager] AS ARE PEDESTRIANS AND
5% OF CAR DRIVERS WHO ARE ACTUALLY DRIVING UNREGISTERED/UNLICENSED ,have
no insurance & no third party property[BQ
Manager] WELL 5000 BQ MEMBERS DO AND ABOUT THE SAME CYCLING QLD MEMBERS DO AND
ABOUT THE SAME NUMBER OF TRIATHLON QLD DO... , So if a cyclist
hits you effetely for insurance purposes it's your fault no matter what actually
happened & no rego means they can break every road rule there is when they like
, go through red light camera you name it[BQ
Manager] AND GET KILLED, OR GET BOOKED FOR RIDING WITH DUE CARE AND BE FINED
Everyone else who uses the road has to pay something
for the privilege[BQ
Manager] AS IF THE 20% OF PEOPLE IN WORK CARS ARE PAYING ANYTHING ,
everyone else has to be identifiable by rego or license[BQ
Manager] NO BIKES IN ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD APART FROM SWITZERLAND PAY REGO,
AND THE SWISS PAY $7 FOR A SERVICE THAT COSTS THE GOVERNMENT $200! DO WE WANT
THIS? 'D BE ALL FOR IT (IT INCLUDES MAPS, INSURANCE, WORK COVER, EVEN BIKE THEFT
INSURANCE!) & everyone else[BQ
Manager] NO THEY DON'T! has to have insurency & everyone else
has to be accountable when they break the road rules
[BQ
Manager] CRAP - WE WORK ON A BUSY ROAD AND COULD 'BOOK' A THOUSAND CARS A DAY -
THE 'CATCH' RATE WOULD BE ONE IN 10,000 LAWBREAKERS! ,Unless you
ride a vehicle
called a push bike , the road using equivalent of a royal family I recond.
[BQ Manager]
CAR REGO PAYS FOR 1/3 OF ROAD COSTS - THE REST COMES FROM FED, COUNCILS AND
TAXES THAT EVERYONE PAYS, INCLUDING CYCLISTS. Most cyclists have cars,
registered, but sitting at home as they use their bikes! Bikes cause no
pollution, no noise, no road damage and no massive injuries to people.
Smart countries encourage bikes. Smart countries (like the Dutch and Swiss) have
less obesity and fewer heart problems in their community - saving $millions in
health costs. Dumb countries and dumb people criticise cycling.
SPOONMAN IS A SAD LOSER - HE OUGHT TO GET A LIFE AND A BIKE !! Everyone
else is - bikes have outsold cars for the last 2 years!
Bloody Free Loaders The spoonman Allis (The
dickhead)