WHOOPS! Mathews had taken a fall with injuries that led to a newright-eye socket, three metal plates and 24 screws in his face
 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3651621.story

New Lenox Youths that Helped Injured Biker Get Award

Boy Scout Troop 44 was hiking in the Palos preserves when they helped biker

By Barbara Dargis, Special to the Tribune

August 23, 2012

A troop of local boy scouts, who seized an opportunity to put oath into action when they helped an injured biker, earned the Good Citizenship award from New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann this month.

The opportunity came on the morning of July 14 when 13 boys from New Lenox Boy Scout Troop 44 crossed paths with Andy Matthews, 48, at Red Gate Woods in the Palos preserves of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Matthews, a mountain biker from Evanston, was practicing for a competition and the scouts, ranging in age from 11 to 13, were engaged in a 5-mile hike required for a merit badge.

Mathews had taken a fall with injuries that led to a new right-eye socket, three metal plates and 24 screws in his face.
Maps
New Lenox, IL, USA

"Perhaps the only other person I would rather have met up with that day would have been a plastic surgeon," quipped the now-recovered Matthews at the Aug. 13 New Lenox village board meeting. "But as luck would have it, I had the scouts. And I am grateful for that."

Matthews had made the 30-mile drive from Evanston because Red Gate Woods is known as a good site for mountain biking, he said. But just a few miles into his ride, Matthews said he went "head over handle bars" and smashed his face on a rock. Just a few minutes later, the troop of hiking scouts noticed Matthews, who was up and walking but "in need of help," recalled Nick Ruskowsky, a scout with Troop 44.

The scouts walked Matthews to his car at his request, said Kevin Pilipchuk, one of two scout fathers who had accompanied the boys on the hike that day.. Matthews said he did not seek immediate help for his injuries.

Ruskowsky, 12, said he and fellow scouts did not think the whole ordeal that day "was such a big deal." He said lending a hand to someone in need "is just what scouts do."