When experienced motorcyclist Drew Stoodley came off his bike during a live race vehicles were used to block off the scene so the crowd didn't see him die. Remarkably the 41-year-old from Caerphilly survived, sustaining a number of broken bones and a punctured lung.
Drew has a three-year-old daughter named Piper and a second child due in January. His injuries mean he will never get the chance to hold his newborn baby. However he said he won't let the things he can't do get him down because he feels so lucky to be alive.
"There are two ways you can look at it," he said. "You can either look at it being bummed out and focusing on what you can't do or you can view it with the mindset that you are still here. I don't get to hold my two girls but I get to see them, give them a kiss, and say 'Good morning' to them. And if I wasn't here I wouldn't be able to do that and my newest daughter would never know her dad."
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Leading up to the fateful crash on September 2 Drew – who is a motorcyclist and motorbike engineer – had been racing bikes for around a year. He had been competing in the Suzuki UK Bandit Challenge in the rookies class. He had won nearly every race he was entered into within the rookies and had records for each circuit he raced.
Although racing was never going to be a long-term hobby of Drew's his injuries mean he will never be able to race a motorbike again – or even lift one off its stand. His injuries have affected the right side of his body and include several fractured ribs, a broken hip, and a punctured lung. His arm was nearly amputated after his humerus bone was smashed into between 16 and 20 pieces. He believes the airbag attached to his suit saved his life along with diligent racers who managed to stop in time to avoid hitting him.
Speaking of his "nightmare" crash, which happened on Anglesey, Drew said: "I have arthritis in my hand and a bit of a broken body anyway. I used to do track days but I wanted to see what I could do with racing before my body gave up. What happened is called a high side. I was exiting a corner and I got on the power a bit sooner than I should have and it meant that the rear tyre lost grip and skidded around. Instead of sliding it caught and it threw me off my seat and into the air into the front of the bike. It was going about 50mph at the time.
"I went down in front of the bike and it's unclear if my arm went in the tyre itself or if it broke on impact. It was a compound fracture so I think it broke on impact. This means the bone went through the skin. What complicated things was that I had my leathers on so the bone had nowhere to go, which means it crumpled in on itself.
"I landed slap bang in the middle of the track during a live circuit. So, if it wasn't for the two riders behind me being so aware I would have been run over. I also had an airbag suit on. So as soon as my suit detects a notable change it deploys. That saved my life as well. My bike landed on top of me. [My airbag] is why I only ended up with four broken ribs and a punctured lung. I also had a fractured hip, which is so bad it will be three months with no weight-bearing as the absolute minimum."
At the scene Drew said he was given a blood transfusion to replace the blood he lost before being flown to hospital in Bangor and later to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. "Once I got there I was operated on straightaway for five hours so they could fix my hip. They also opened up my arm, checked my nerves, and they put on an ex-fixer which you often see used on people's broken legs – the metal cages you see around them. They never put them on arms but the reason they did it on me is because I had four or five surgeons trying to figure out what to do with my arm."
Drew said he wore the ex-fixer for around a month – far longer than was originally planned. He said surgeons ended up doing a partial hemiarthroplasty procedure.
"It's very rare and has only been done a handful of times in this country," he said. "They've saved my arm in appearance but not in terms of what I can do with it. I'd be able to hold a toothbrush but I wouldn't be able to open a car door. [With my] little girl due in January I'm not going to be able to lift up a seven pound baby with this arm.
"When my arm is recovered I'm going to have to have it in a sling or I'm going to forget about it. If I held a door open for someone one day my arm will have to come off. At first I wanted my arm removed but the surgeon convinced me otherwise. He said: 'Let's see how it goes for six to 12 months and then we will have a look at it again'. I do use my right arm a lot for work so I think I was over-hasty and possibly would have regretted that decision."
Drew said his hip will also likely cause him problems for the rest of his life. Doctors told him he will be able to walk for around 20 to 30 metres at a time before he will need to use a wheelchair to avoid the pins becoming loose. He will likely need a hip replacement in the future.
Drew said he spent a number of weeks in hospital but has now created a hospital environment in his home while he recovers. This includes a hospital bed in his living room with a commode, a manual self-propelled wheelchair, a power chair, and a rise and recline chair.
He said he is on strong painkillers but that the pain in his arm is still almost unbearable at times. He said: "I’m still in a lot of pain. The main operation was five weeks ago and the pain medication has increased every single week since. There is nerve pain and there is physical bone pain. The nerve pain is the tear-maker.
"I don't know what the future holds but I'll be happy if I'm at a five out of 10 for the rest of my life all the time. At the moment I'm at six or seven out of 10 all the time. That goes up to eights and nines and sometimes, fleetingly, up to 10. I'm not expecting a pain-free recovery or a pain-free life, I am realistic, but I want to get the pain under control."
Despite everything he's been through Drew said he has made peace with what's happened. He said the most important thing is that he's alive and able to be with his family and friends. He said: "It was my choice to put on the helmet and it was my choice to race so I am at peace with how it happened. It was my mistake. I was offered counselling but I don't need it. It was hard to see my family's reactions when they heard about my injuries but that's why it was important for them to come and see me in hospital as I was in good spirits.
"I'm just grateful and lucky. I have an amazing network of family and friends who would do anything for me. I've got friends who live in Tenby who drove down to Maesteg in the valleys to pick up a chair for me and bring it to my house in Caerphilly and then just go home again. Those are the types of people I'm friends with. Everyone in the race club is like one giant family and I have messages off them every single day without fail. It's a wonderful club."
But most of all Drew said he is grateful for his girlfriend whom he has been in awe of. He said: "My girlfriend is heavily pregnant and she's been an absolute machine of a woman. People think I've had it tough but the reality is I've been in hospital in a nice warm bed surrounded by professionals.
"She's heavily pregnant with a three-year-old in a very intense full-time job. Then I came home which added another level of care-giving to her mix. She has to empty my wee bottle, turn me over in bed, and inject me with medication as well as taking Piper to nursery or her grandparents and looking after the house. It's like I'm another baby. Every time she looks at me she sees the accident and the father of her children who should have been a dead man. I feel for her more than myself and I’m very lucky to have her."
Having been off work following his crash Drew set up a GoFundMe page following the advice of his racing friends. The page has allowed him to purchase medical equipment for his home as well as his powerchair, wheelchair, commode, ramps, and chairs table. He also aims to install rails in his home when he has raised enough. You can view or donate to the fundraiser here.
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