Willow had an accident near Topeka. Lori needs local assistance

[Whistler]

This has been a long day for many, Carl and Lori obviously, but also for many of us whose guts drop at the news of an accident. I had a bad feeling when Carl did not show for the Kansas get together, as I had been told he was coming. I even mentioned it to Valkhound I was a bit worried that Carl in particular had not showed. As we were saying our goodbyes the dreaded call came and the look on Teryl's face said it all! We gathered and prayed and then bid our farewells for our rides home.

Solemn, is all I can say was my trip home, it was good to be in the wind, but my heart and mind were not in the ride. I prayed all the way home. I joined this board just before Old Skol was taken from you, I never met Steve, but would have liked too! Then just a short time later Carl had his wreck coming home from church. I had not met anyone at this point, but the outpour that I saw from people, from across the country, convinced me that this was a group I would like to be part of. Since then I have had the privilege of meeting Carl, Lori, and many others. I always enjoy riding and visiting with Carl and look forward to doing that again.  Carl has always impressed me with his cool , easy going demeanor, whistling along and yes I know it is not that way all the time, I have seen him frustrated as well. I enjoy listening to his experiences and adventures knowing full well he has more miles under his belt than I will ever be able to accomplish. But what impresses me most is Carl's faith and service to his, our, Lord and Savior. It served him well before, and it will again!

I am kind of rambling I guess as I am getting ready to go to work, but I just wanted Carl to know that my thoughts and prayers are with him and I am looking forward to sharing wind again! See you soon!

JDW

[~ Timbrwolf]

. ...Thoughts and Prayers from the woods for Carl and Lori and his entire family..


....Hang tough Carl. ....God,s Speed

[T-Bird]

Been at my brothers today and just now got home. I was hoping this was an old post of Carl's  wreck from a few years ago.
I will say a special prayer for Carl and lori  tonight. They are special to all of us.

[PAVALKER]

Thoughts and prayers from Pittsburgh.  Hang in there Willow....  wishing you a speedy and full recovery.

[Clark]

PRAYERS from yer prollem child Carl..

[Whooray]

Carl, praying for a speedy and full recovery.

[Rio Wil]

Willow......best thoughts and wished from California.....hang in there!!

[pitbull]

It's just gone 4:30am here in the UK, but I woke up thinking about Carl and just had to fire up the PC to get an update.

Thank you to all that have been keeping us informed and supporting both Carl and Lori.

I've never met anyone from this board but have had a few PM's from some of you, including Willow and I know that Carl is a top guy.

Get well soon fella, we need you around here.

Pitbull

[Chiefy]

Good luck Willow.  Sorry to hear the bad news.

48 is really low.  The 2 times I got below 55 (I'm diabetic also) I got tunnel vision and it was all I could do to stay on my feet.

[Swartzy]

In continual prayer here for guidance of hospital staff and the Lord's guiding touch of recovery.........

[Snowflake]

Lousy news, hate to hear it. I pray The Lord will heal and comfort you and your family. Stay safe my friends.

[Serk]

Crap. 

[Daddie O]

I hate to hear this news, but thank all for updates.  Carl, you and I have butted heads over differences in political ideology, but I respect you and wish nothing but the best for you.  Best wishes from California for a speedy recovery.  I'm praying for you.

[Jess from VA]

Damn it!

Best wishes for a rapid recovery Carl. 

[ptgb]

Just got on the board.... Hate this kind of news!


Stay strong Carl and Lori; you're in mine and JoJo's thoughts.

[larue]

Hate hearing this......Prayers from FL for Carl and Lori for a speedy recovery

[Stormrider65]

Just heard the news.   Prayers raised from North Ft. Worth.  I met Willlow once and right away I knew I was talking to someone with a heart of gold.    Heal quickly Carl.  Hang in there Lori. Sounds like he's in good hands.   Looking forward to seeing both of you again.


Walt

[Dogg]

I left a message on the fb page, but definite prayers for a speedy recovery and to give stregth to supporting family members...

[Hotrodwing]

Prayers from NE PA.  Get Well soon

[HayHauler]

Prayers from Pearland for Carl and Lori.  Both food people and still hard to believe. 

Hay
Jimmyt

[See what happens Larry]

More prayers from Jane and I.

[fordmano]

Well here is another set of prayers being sent up for Willow and family, from way over here on the left coast.. We will keep the family in our good thoughts and our prayers.

I told the wife about this and she is now really nervous about me riding and especially riding with me since I am also Diabetic (insuline user, not completely dependant but daily usage) and I have been waking up with very low sugar a lot lately.. the only thing I can do is find food blindly very panicked and sweaty.  Next Week our meet up out here is now more of a challenge than ever.


Prayers for a complete and speedy recovery, we all know how tough Willow must be after his last accident. He is one tough Son of a %$%^@*@&#^

[Rams]

Realizing it's too early to expect to see an update but, woke up thinking about this.  Had to check in, hoping to see an update saying Carl was out of ICU.   Obviously, no such luck.   

Carl,
Just know that many are thinking and praying for your full recovery.    Keep a positive attitude and heal.   Knowing Lori and other's are there with you helps not only you but your two wheel family as well.   Sent a get well message to the hospital, hope it gets to you.   

BTW, leave the nurses alone. 

[f-Stop]

Here's to a speedy recovery!  And, we're sending some get well vibes from Driftwood just to help!

Thanks for the updates y'all.

[9Ball]

Sorry to hear the news.  His extended family is rooting for him.

[bogator]

  I just got up and found this, sorry to hear about Willow ,but I am in prayer at this time for Carl and Lori   gonna send a well wish to the Hospital for him, thanks for the updates.------GOD BLESS----

[Warlock]

Prayers from David & Kathy for a quick recovery.
Warlock

[Tundra]

Hang in there Carl, prayers from Florida.
-Doug & Andrea

[robin]

Thoughts and prayers from Jersey hang in there you 2

[hairyteeth]

More thoughts and prayers from Ohio for the Willow family.
HT

[Hook#3287]

All thought I've never met Willow, I feel I know him and have always respected his guidance on our great board.

I hope he continues his recovery quickly and is soon back to keeping us in line.

[Xtracho]

Hope this morning brings an easing of the pain and a roadmap for the road to total recovery.

[stude31]

Keep the emails coming.  Last night when I picked Lori up to take her to
the house she said that the front receptionist of the ICU came back and
handed her a stack of papers and said that these are for Carl and he sure
is loved by many.  They have never seen such an outpouring.   I know Carl
wouldn't want to hear all this gooey stuff or bask in the attention of this
situation but this is our healing process, as well.  We see through his
fight how this could easily happen to one of us and we respond how we would
want to be treated.

I know Carl would do the same thing, maybe a bit more discrete.  We all
could learn some valuable lessons from this man.   He is one to point out
the hard knocks of his life  (no pun intended), but we would point to the
soft spoken honest and sincere man that he is.  Whistler said it well, he
will probably ride more miles than most of us but what makes him Willow is
the character that comes from a higher power and with that I rest my fears
in the palms of our creator, Lord Jesus Christ.

If you missed a chance or want to start the day with an encouraging word to
Willow you can do it here:
http://www.stormontvail.org/ssl/patientrep/email.html

Carl Holmes ; Room 219

Today will be a tough day for Carl and his family. 24 hours after the accident will expose the pain and possible more issues to address as the doctors put together a recovery plan for him. So continue to pray for him and guard his stubbornness, Lori said he tried to get out if bed last night.


We have an amazing family in the VRCC.

Stude31

[Xtracho]

Attitude is everything and trying to get up outta the bed is a great sign. Don't know Willow personally but I gather from the posts of you that do his attitude will not be an issue.

Walked outside this morning, took a look at my phat girl, and Willow was the first thing that popped into my big fat head.

[RainMaker]

Joe, thanks again for the service you are providing to us.  You are our ears, eyes and hands in this situation and your reports are eagerly awaited and very much appreciated.  What a blessing you are to Carl, Lori and your VRCC brothers and sisters.

RainMaker

[hillbilly]

Prayers sent from West Virginia, God speed your recovery.

[MP]

Thank you very much for the update.  Thank you for all the help and support you are giving all there.  You are the proxy for many of us who are too far away to help.  God bless everyone.

Woke up at 4 AM, and had to check if any new news, although I knew there would not be.

MP

[ridingdragon]

Prayers from Pam and I.

[Jo k]

Good thoughts and prayers for fast recovery. Thanks for the updates.


 Jeff k. and Jo

[Daniel Meyer]

This is from Lori's facebook post last night. I thought I'd post it over here for those that aren't on FB...


I am having a bit of trouble sleeping, so I thought that I would take this time to 1) thank ALL of you for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement, They truly mean the world to us! 2) Thank all of those that are have gone out of their way to assist us and support us during this time. and 3) tell you what I know at this time.

I have no new updates for you, but can only tell you what I knew when I left the hospital last night. At this time, we really don't know anything about the accident itself. I will be talking to the highway patrolman this morning to find out what I can as far as what happened. They are speculating at this time, that since his blood sugar was so low at the time they arrived at the scene (48) that possibly he passed out while riding due to that. I hope to know more about that this morning.

The injuries that I know of at this time are fractures to his left wrist and hand (it has been splinted and most likely will require surgery according to the orthopedic doctor. He seems to think he may need a plate in his wrist and pins in his hand.) His right wrist and hand are seriously sprained, he has an issue with his left shoulder and his left knee and ankle. The orthopedic doctor also said that in the next few days, they may notice other things, as well, but those are the initial injuries that he is dealing with.

In addition to those injuries, he sustained multiple fractures to his face, including his eye socket and jaw. They have called in an ear, nose and throat doctor to address those injuries. He cannot see out of his right eye at this time due to the fact that there are fractures to the socket and it is swollen shut, as well as black and blue.

Before I left the hospital, the trauma doctor came in and stitched up some of the lacerations on his face. They stitched above his left eye, his chin, his lip and they also found a deep laceration inside of his mouth.

He has a brain bleed on the left side of his head and that is one of the things they were most concerned about. They did a second CT of his head last night and it was no worse, so that is a positive sign. He also sustained a concussions. He is in and out and very confused at times, but they say that is to be expected.

He also has a discplaced fracture of the C1 vertebrae in his neck. He is in a collar at this time, and the neurosurgeon that is addressing the brain bleed will be the one to determine how that is treated.

He has alot of road rash on his face, as well, and some on his body, but not a whole lot there. I do have to say that the protective gear he was wearing sure did its job! His Joe Rocket mesh jacket, was worn down in many places, but in no place did it go through the last layer of the mesh. i do believe the padding in the jacket also protected him of having even more injuries. Unfortunately he was not wearing his chaps, so he does have road rash to both of his knees, but he did have on thick jeans, so it is not as bad as it could have been.

They were keeping him as comfortable as they could when I left, with pain meds and they were also going to give him some medication for anxiety, as he was becoming quite agitated and anxious.

I hope to have more news and information when I go back to the hospital this morning, but that won't be until about 8:30, as no one is allowed back in the ICU until that time.

We are trying to get him moved back to the KC area today, as the location of the hospital where he is at this time is and hour and a half from home. Fortunately we have friends in the area Joe and Teryl that live here and I am staying with them for the time being. There may be some issues and hurdles we have to overcome in order to move him, but we are hoping to find out more about that today.

Thank you to Amber and Timothy for making the trip out here and taking care of some of my immediate needs (phone charger and food). Thank you to Brian for being here for support and explaining some of the medical issues to me! Thank you to Joe and Teryl for being there, as well as offering me a place to stay. Thank you to my children Tim and Jennifer, as well as Stephanie and Klint for coming out here to be with us and to bring me some of the things I needed. Thank you to Chris, Carl's boss for being here even before I was and for checking in on us. Thank you to our pastor, Phil for coming out to be with us and to pray with us.

Those are only a few of the people I need to thank! I know I left some out, but my mind is just racing right now. I need to thank ALL of you for the continued words of encouragement and most of all the prayers, as they are so important and a great source of comfort for us to know that so many are praying in this situation! Please continue to lift Carl up in prayer, as his recovery may be a long one.

Thank you all for the texts, calls, and notes and emails. If I have not gotten back with you it is not because I don't appreciate it, it is because I am overwhelmed with all of the support and not able to respond to everyone at this time. Please know that it is however, appreciated! I will update as I can, but don't even know how often I will be able to do that.

I feel as though I am rambling, but again, I want to thank you ALL! You are ALL so very important to us and we love you guys!