Keagan Girdlestone in critical condition after serious crash.

[intern]

Jeepers what a horrible accident. I'd strongly encourage all to contribute some cash if you can, I'm more of a believer in the power of money than the power of thoughts.

[Spoke101]

ADMIN POST: Twenty-two days post-accident, Keagan has left ICU and has been transferred to the Department of Neuroscience Rehabilitation Hospital, San Giorgio in Ferrara.

 

Prior to his transfer, Keagan underwent some testing of his nerves and in his right arm. This revealed there is little nerve or muscle activity from the elbow to the shoulder/bicep. That said, Keagan has improved the movement of his left arm and can lift it and move his hand toward his face. His hand is getting stronger but he still cannot hold anything- YET! In other good news, both of his legs are moving well.

 

At this time, it is unclear what the future holds.

 

Having transferred out of ICU to Ferrara, Keagan will now work with a nerve specialist and physiotherapists to try to improve his range of movement and work on his general well-being.

 

There is no clear indication at this stage regarding Keagan's length of stay in Ferrara nor is it certain how long he'll be there before he gets the go ahead to travel and be repatriated to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

This past weekend his friends Adam Bull and Richard Lawson cycled from Imola to Rimini to visit him and spend time with him. Having them visit was good medicine for Keagz. Adam noted he was on his way to visit the "Crash Bandicoot"!

 

Keagan is well aware of his surroundings, enjoys seeing the many videos sent to him and has started sending out his own. We will hopefully record a short video for the public soon.

 

Thank you all for your overwhelming show of support. Many of you have donated to his Give a Little Campaign to help fund the things insurance does not cover- such as his parents stay in Italy. It is very gratifying to see global messages of support and financial support. Should you wish to donate, you can do so here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/keepfightingkeagz/donations

[Spoke101]

[Gen]

FB_IMG_1467136894220.jpg

One tough kid..

 

Hoping he goes from strength to strength.

[xcd]

Such good news !

Keep fighting Keegan.

I look forward to seeing you back on the bike.

[Skylark]

Shame, glad to see he's made it and moving towards rehab.

 

What I can glean a team car jammed on brakes in front of him and he went through the rear window?

[splat]

Great to hear that Keagan is on the mend. Still a long road ahead though.

 

Jan Ullrich did a similar thing a few years ago, but got off lightly

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ullrich-and-pereiro-crash/

[intern]

Hectic accident. Really pleased to see progress being made, under those circumstances it is a medical triumph that KG is on the road to recovery. All strength young man.

[Long Wheel Base]

FB_IMG_1467136894220.jpg

Thanks Spoke.

Glad he is making progress, Hoping he can ride a bike again soon.

This hospital stay sure is making him skinny, making Chris Froome look obese.

[Tumbleweed]

Great to hear that Keagan is on the mend. Still a long road ahead though.

 

Jan Ullrich did a similar thing a few years ago, but got off lightly

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ullrich-and-pereiro-crash/

 

Some would argue the car got off lightly... 

[Spoke101]

Thanks Spoke.

Glad he is making progress, Hoping he can ride a bike again soon.

This hospital stay sure is making him skinny, making Chris Froome look obese.

 

He's always been skinny but I agree muscle wastage is part of the game when you've been bed ridden for 3 weeks.

[V12man]

Thanks Spoke.

Glad he is making progress, Hoping he can ride a bike again soon.

This hospital stay sure is making him skinny, making Chris Froome look obese.

Tough to eat with the damage he has....

[Spoke101]

ADMIN POST:

 

"SLIT THROAT AND WITHOUT OXYGEN FOR 2 HOURS. THIS IS HOW WE SAVED THE "DEAD" CYCLIST."

http://www.corriereromagna.it/news/rimini/19223/la-rinascita-di-keagan-girdlestone-.html

 

Front page of today's newspaper in Italy (Correira di Rimini): "The Rebirth of Keagan." (headline front page) "Slit throat and without oxygen for 2 hours. This is how we saved the "dead" cyclist" (headline 2nd page)

 

RIMINI: His head slams into a car windshield. A violent shock. The windshield is shattered into pieces, his jugular and carotid arteries are completely severed by the glass. Blood is not reaching his head, nor does oxygen. The situation is desperate, this young man is only 19 and someone has already given him up for dead. Just a few seconds divide the fine line between life and death. A quick decision must be taken and perfectly synchronized rescue efforts must be started. On June 5th, during the Coppa della Pace race, in Sant'Ermete, professional cyclist Keagan Girdlestone, originally from South Africa, now living in New Zealand, crashed into the windshield of his team car and is lying on the tarmac exhaling his last breaths.

Online, someone is already speaking of death. Not the medical team who, on that afternoon, win the race against time pulling through the most difficult fight. The first rescuer on site is Dr. Emiliano Gamberini, who finds himself in front of a hell of blood and manages to stop the bleeding. He must take the first dramatic decision: according to the rescue protocol, a helicopter rescue is needed, but it would take fifteen minutes to Cesena hospital. Too long. The doctors decision is ambulance to Rimini hospital.

It is a very big risk, but it should save seven minutes, if everything goes well. The ICU, directed by Dr. Giuseppe Nardi is immediately put on alert for a "dying patient with penetrating injury to the throat." Later, doctors say they had never seen such deep cuts. In other similar cases, death came within two or three minutes. But the guy is still alive, the ambulance runs fast and loud. The surgery room is prepared in record time, two minutes instead of the twenty or twenty five normally needed. Blood is urgently needed, but no one knows the guy's blood type. Another race starts to take to the room O-negative blood, compatible with all other types. Blood and ambulance arrive at the same time.

The entire staff, doctors Michele Leone, vascular surgeon, Antonella Potalivo, anaesthetist, Elisa Bartolucci, general surgeon, paramedics and stretcher porters are "combat ready" and move together as one, it is a necessary condition not to be overwhelmed by the events.

The ambulance final rush and the transfer of patient to the hospital staff is a very delicate step. The patient is in deep coma with blood pressure at forty. He must be taken into the hospital building. The slightest mistake would be fatal. Time gone between the emergency call and the start of the emergency surgery is just half an hour. The 118 emergency service received the call at 16h40, Keagan Girdlestone is in the surgery at 17h10. In the meantime, someone has called the hospital asking for the time of death to be communicated to the press. The only reply is: "No-one is dead here, just leave us to do our job." Surgery ends at 22h40, the 19 year old guy is safe, against all odds.

Keagan's parents are in New Zealand and they were the first to be informed: their lives, too, started again, after more than five hours of waiting. During these hours they launched appeals on the internet to pray for their son. He is in ICU, where he will wake up after three days, "without any of the side effects that we could expect" the doctors say "despite the time spent without blood circulation to his head, the boy did not report any neurological damage: he was conscious and could communicate."

After 22 days in ICU he was then transported to the Department of Neosurgicalscience at San Giorgio hospital in Ferrara where he is slowly recovering muscle and nerve activity. In the meantime a fundraising was started, through the website https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/keepfightingkeagz to allow his parents to be in Italy, close to their son. At this time, as much as 14 thousand euro were donated. The most important result is that "our son is here with us" the parents say. They were very moved when they expressed their feelings of gratitude to the medical team of this "mission impossible", or rather a textbook case which will soon be published in the scientific press. The medical team do not want to hear about miracles: "we only did what is our duty, an excellent team job" they say with great satisfaction. It is true, however, that the boy was saved grabbing him by his hair and the slightest mistake or delay along the "chain of rescue" would not allow us to save his life. A matter of seconds, which divide the fine line between life and death.

 

#KeepFightingKeagz

Donations: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/keepfightingkeagz

 

Original article available at Corriera Di Rimini http://www.corriereromagna.it/news/rimini/19223/la-rinascita-di-keagan-girdlestone-.html

[bertusras]

That is horrifying, but really shows a) who the real heroes are, and b) how bloody tough this young kid is. Incredible story, chills all over (and not from the nippy weather).

[Gen]

ADMIN POST:

 

"SLIT THROAT AND WITHOUT OXYGEN FOR 2 HOURS. THIS IS HOW WE SAVED THE "DEAD" CYCLIST."

GN4_DAT_6032302.jpg--la_rinascita_di_keagan_girdlestone_.jpg

http://www.corriereromagna.it/news/rimini/19223/la-rinascita-di-keagan-girdlestone-.html

 

Front page of today's newspaper in Italy (Correira di Rimini): "The Rebirth of Keagan." (headline front page) "Slit throat and without oxygen for 2 hours. This is how we saved the "dead" cyclist" (headline 2nd page)

 

RIMINI: His head slams into a car windshield. A violent shock. The windshield is shattered into pieces, his jugular and carotid arteries are completely severed by the glass. Blood is not reaching his head, nor does oxygen. The situation is desperate, this young man is only 19 and someone has already given him up for dead. Just a few seconds divide the fine line between life and death. A quick decision must be taken and perfectly synchronized rescue efforts must be started. On June 5th, during the Coppa della Pace race, in Sant'Ermete, professional cyclist Keagan Girdlestone, originally from South Africa, now living in New Zealand, crashed into the windshield of his team car and is lying on the tarmac exhaling his last breaths.

Online, someone is already speaking of death. Not the medical team who, on that afternoon, win the race against time pulling through the most difficult fight. The first rescuer on site is Dr. Emiliano Gamberini, who finds himself in front of a hell of blood and manages to stop the bleeding. He must take the first dramatic decision: according to the rescue protocol, a helicopter rescue is needed, but it would take fifteen minutes to Cesena hospital. Too long. The doctors decision is ambulance to Rimini hospital.

It is a very big risk, but it should save seven minutes, if everything goes well. The ICU, directed by Dr. Giuseppe Nardi is immediately put on alert for a "dying patient with penetrating injury to the throat." Later, doctors say they had never seen such deep cuts. In other similar cases, death came within two or three minutes. But the guy is still alive, the ambulance runs fast and loud. The surgery room is prepared in record time, two minutes instead of the twenty or twenty five normally needed. Blood is urgently needed, but no one knows the guy's blood type. Another race starts to take to the room O-negative blood, compatible with all other types. Blood and ambulance arrive at the same time.

The entire staff, doctors Michele Leone, vascular surgeon, Antonella Potalivo, anaesthetist, Elisa Bartolucci, general surgeon, paramedics and stretcher porters are "combat ready" and move together as one, it is a necessary condition not to be overwhelmed by the events.

The ambulance final rush and the transfer of patient to the hospital staff is a very delicate step. The patient is in deep coma with blood pressure at forty. He must be taken into the hospital building. The slightest mistake would be fatal. Time gone between the emergency call and the start of the emergency surgery is just half an hour. The 118 emergency service received the call at 16h40, Keagan Girdlestone is in the surgery at 17h10. In the meantime, someone has called the hospital asking for the time of death to be communicated to the press. The only reply is: "No-one is dead here, just leave us to do our job." Surgery ends at 22h40, the 19 year old guy is safe, against all odds.

Keagan's parents are in New Zealand and they were the first to be informed: their lives, too, started again, after more than five hours of waiting. During these hours they launched appeals on the internet to pray for their son. He is in ICU, where he will wake up after three days, "without any of the side effects that we could expect" the doctors say "despite the time spent without blood circulation to his head, the boy did not report any neurological damage: he was conscious and could communicate."

After 22 days in ICU he was then transported to the Department of Neosurgicalscience at San Giorgio hospital in Ferrara where he is slowly recovering muscle and nerve activity. In the meantime a fundraising was started, through the website https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/keepfightingkeagz to allow his parents to be in Italy, close to their son. At this time, as much as 14 thousand euro were donated. The most important result is that "our son is here with us" the parents say. They were very moved when they expressed their feelings of gratitude to the medical team of this "mission impossible", or rather a textbook case which will soon be published in the scientific press. The medical team do not want to hear about miracles: "we only did what is our duty, an excellent team job" they say with great satisfaction. It is true, however, that the boy was saved grabbing him by his hair and the slightest mistake or delay along the "chain of rescue" would not allow us to save his life. A matter of seconds, which divide the fine line between life and death.

 

#KeepFightingKeagz

Donations: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/keepfightingkeagz

 

Original article available at Corriera Di Rimini http://www.corriereromagna.it/news/rimini/19223/la-rinascita-di-keagan-girdlestone-.html

The fight he showed and the medical staff's determination is incredible.

[Vetseun]

Respect