Zibby received this e-mail today from Heidi Hock-Kaim, a friend from Austin, regarding injuries sustained by her husband, Anthony Kaim, from a terrible cycling accident in Austin yesterday, Saturday April 11, 2009. In short, Anthony broke and fractured several bones but (miraculously) did not sustain brain or spinal cord damage or injury to internal organs.
As background, Anthony and I went to law school together and we rode together two to three times a week throughout our last year of school. Anthony cycled for UT as an undergrad and he showed me lots of great routes in the Austin area. In fact, Anthony's example encouraged me to get back on my bike and get into shape after taking the first two years of law school off. Somehow he managed to enter and win or place in several races in all three years of law school and win about every academic award possible at UT Law. And he's just a really humble, nice guy with a great sense of humor.
I can't come up with words to express how sad this news makes me for Anthony and Heidi or how relieved I am that his injuries are not worse.
I wish him the best for a speedy and full recovery. Heidi's e-mail follows below the line.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, calls, and messages. I apologize if we do not get back to you right away but please know that we are taking comfort in all of you.
Anthony was in a severe cycling accident on Saturday morning. From what I understand, he was riding with a group on loop 360 in Austin and he either ran over debris or hit a bump in the road, He lost control of his handlebars and ran into the cement barrier on the right which then made him jut out into traffic on the left. He was hit by a car and, no doubt, both of them were traveling at high speeds. It is a miracle that he survived.
That being said, his injuries are quite serious. Thank God he has no head or spinal cord injuries and he has been fully conscious and talking a lot (even questioning and debating the doctors & nurses). But, he has several broken ribs, a shattered pelvis, a disjointed hip (now back in place), his spine is fractured in 4 or 5 places, and his jaw is broken in 3 places. All of these will be fixed with multiple surgeries. We were told he was going to have his facial & spine surgeries today but his hemoglobin levels are pretty low and the doctors need him to be stable before they operate. He has 4 specialists working on him and he is in very good hands.
The current timeline is: possible facial surgery on Tuesday and the other surgeries following this week. He may be in the hospital for weeks with a slow recovery after.
We are at Brackenridge Hospital in the ICU. I, along with his parents & family are all here and we are hanging out in the waiting room. We are welcoming visitors but Anthony will not be able to have visitors until later this week. If you all could do me a favor and forward this to anyone I may have left off that would be most appreciated (I'm a little sleep deprived at this point)
Please keep Anthony in your prayers.
Heidi
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