Hey, Mark, I don't pray often, but I'm lighting a candle for you. Every patient I see and talk to who has been in a wreck, I think of you. I don't know what this long road ahead will bring, but listen to your doctors, your nurses, your PT and your family when they give you encouragement... and tell them to #$%* off when they say things starting in 'never'. My dear wife was told she'd never ride again, so much as walk without a leg brace... and this was after they told her she'd never keep her leg... but 17 years later, she's an xray tech, encouraging every patient to do their best and riding to work on her first motorcycle in 16 years. She runs, now, with a titanium rod in her leg and fire in her heart. She's done a metric century on a bicyle with me, and has an incredible passion for life. Scars are beautiful reminders of what you've been through, and what you have to offer the world.
All of us know it might be a while until you feel safe riding again, but your soul still knows the language of the wind whispered in one's ears. You're a good man, Mr. Linder, and if you came to my hospital, I would take my breaks to hold your hand and encourage you as much as I do my other patients. You are all my family, in one way or another.
I'm just a patient transporter, but I do know what it's like to hold an unconscious man's hand as he gets CT after CT from the neural ward, or tell you every time there'll be a bump through the fire doors when I take you to the next of many appointments. It breaks my heart sometimes that I just can't be with you (or anyone else) every time you need to leave the sanctity of your family or your room, but I would do my very best while you were in my hands.
Mr. Linder, I have never met you, but I truly wish you the very best from the bottom of my heart. I want you to try hard, every day, to do the best you can, to rest and recuperate, and to be patient with the medical professionals around you who are doing their best, in turn. As Kghost said, you're family, man... and if you came to my facility in PDX, and your family let me, I'd be more than honored to spend what time I could by your bedside, helping you recoup. I'm just a PM away.
God bless,
Kit
