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Smiling from the hospital bed. Not quite sure if I knew what was going on at this point, but I remember how happy the flowers made me feel.

Brittany’s Account:

August 26, 2012 started out like any other Sunday. Ehren, a friend and I took our dirt bikes out and were on our way to another trail via a remote asphalt highway when Ehren took off down another path unexpectedly (he was a ways ahead of us). I was watching where he was going and not what was in front of me when I hit the back of our friend’s bike, who had moved over and was slowing down to stop, at around 35-40 mph.

I don’t remember much until 3 days later in the hospital in Reno. Ehren had to fill me in: I had shattered my left collarbone, broken a rib, lacerated my spleen and left kidney (the internal bleeding had me in the ICU for 3 days), fractured my C1 and C2 vertebrae and had a basilar skull fracture. After a week in the hospital I was released with neck brace, arm sling, and stitches from my collarbone surgery.

The collarbone healed just fine, though I still have the metal plate and the scar to remind me. I had to be in the neck brace for 6 months but most of my movement came back. There’s still a tight spot in my left side that I imagine is scar tissue from the internal lacerations. And I didn’t find out until I broke my left thumb playing softball during the summer of 2015 that my left wrist had a nonunion fracture, likely another injury from the accident that wasn’t caught due to the severity of the other injuries.

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At the Grand Canyon four months into the neck brace.

Our friend did get a little scratched up from the accident, but fortunately nowhere as severe as what happened to me. What was a very sobering thought in all of this, however, was that it could have been a lot more serious for them, and it would have been because of me not looking for two seconds because I decided to worry about a change of plan. Two seconds.

I’m very glad and thankful to be able to continue to do what I love, as I know there are many people who have suffered much worse and who may no longer have the choice. I don’t take anything for granted on the road anymore, and try my hardest not to get complacent.