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ANOTHER Mountain Biker Severely Injured



 
 
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Old April 1st 12, 06:06 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Mike Vandeman[_4_]
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Default ANOTHER Mountain Biker Severely Injured

http://middletown-ct.patch.com/artic...ountain-biking

Website Raises Money for Coginchaug Grad Hurt Mountain Biking in
Calif.

Friends of Coginchaug High School graduate Mike Turner have created an
online fundraiser to help him cover medical expenses after he was
severely injured last weekend while mountain biking.

By Michael Hayes
March 31, 2012

Friends of a Coginchaug High School graduate injured while mountain
biking in California last weekend have launched a website to help
raise money to pay for his medical expenses.

28-year-old Michael Turner was mountain biking with a friend near his
home in Three Rivers, CA, on March 24, when he lost his balance and
hit his head on a fallen tree.

"I immediately reached for my head and it felt like there was a golf
ball behind my jaw," Turner said in a phone interview from a hospital
on Friday. "My friend, who was riding behind me, asked if I was okay
and I went to answer him and I realized I could only move half my
face."

Hospital tests revealed that Turner had been impaled by a 5-inch stick
which had entered the back of his jaw and nearly pierced the base of
his skull. The stick damaged a facial nerve, leaving the right side of
his face paralyzed, doctors at the Community Regional Medical Center
told him.

But Turner, a seasonal employee for the National Parks Service, said
he spent the next four days waiting for the hospital to decide whether
he would be transfered to UC Davis Medical Center, where specialsits
could perform the surgery to remove the stick.

Eventually, he was denied because he lacked medical insurance.

Finally on Thursday, five days after the accident, Turner underwent 8-
hours of surgery to remove the stick * part of which he kept * at
CRMC.

The surgery was successful and Turner is expected to be released from
the hospital today. He said he's been told it could take up to a year
to fully recover.

In the meantime, Turner's friends have created a website youcaring.com
to help him pay for his exisiting medical expenses and future bills.

"He's really a wonderful person and he works really hard," said
Kristine Teets, who's known Turner since the two were graduate
students at UConn. Teets said she created the website after talking
with friends about what they could do to help Turner.

By Friday evening, the website had raised more than $10,000 for his
medical expenses. The goal is $50,000, according to Teets.

"I think a lot of people our age right now are underemployed or not
employed and don't have insurance," she said. "Hearing what happened
to him just breaks your heart."

Turner, who was a member of Coginchaug's cross country and track teams
before graduating in 2002, said he's not able to afford health
insurance because of college loan debt, rent and other living
expenses.

"This outpouring of support from strangers and loved ones is more than
I could ever ask for," he said.
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