Be careful on your ATVs, my friends...

Mitch Rapp

Mitch Rapp

Bah, humbug. Shut up and look out the window.
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Everybody thinks "I'll be fine, it won't happen to me."
Well, not only can it, but it will.

Yesterday (Sat, May 13), I was riding the trails up at Brown Mtn and this morning (Sun, May 14) I wake up in the hospital in Charlotte.
While climbing through some rocks along the trail, me and the four wheeler I was on ended up rolling over. I took the full weight of the machine to my chest as we went over.
My riding partner managed to get enough cell service to give 911 our coordinates and they dispatched a rescue team from Oak Hill Fire and Rescue and Burke Co EMS. It took about 90 minutes for the team to be dispatched, assemble their gear and get up to us. They spent a few minutes with us there doing evaluations, and about 45 minutes to get me down the mountain.
Special shout out to James, Logan, Dakota, Zack, and the other Dakota. These guys...and gal...were professional, efgicient, knew their business, and were just flat out cool people.
They got me down the mountain and to the Hospital in Morganton where I went through several procedures. End result is a fractured scapula and some minor internal lacerations to my liver. I was sent to Charlotte for observation and precautionary measures just in case the liver decided to finish rupturing.
My wife was able to travel down last night. She brought clean clothes, managed to get the mud and grime washed off me and get me into some pajamas and t shirt. Thank the Lord for her and her ability to not freak out and simply get the jobs done that need to get done.
Im unsure when I'll go home, maybe this evening or sometime Monday.

Folks, accidents happen. They just do, and they happen to all of us, refardless of experience level. No matter what you are doing, always use safe practices and use the appropriate safety gear. Its imposdible to plan for every situation, especially catastrophic ones, but at least always have a plan.
I was very lucky that I wasnt laying up on that mountain leaking gray matter out of my ears or with a broke rib and punctured lung or with any other worse internal organ damage than I had.

Sometimes God will tap you on the shoulder and say "I'm still here, bud"


Good morning from Charlotte, NC

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Glad you made it off that mountain. Obviously God has more plans for you here. Praying for a speedy recovery.
 
Glad that it wasn't worse and hope you heal up as good as new.
 
Prayers for you and your family
 
Prayers said, and thanks given to God, that you are still here. Get well soon.
 
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Its an hour after shift change around here and I just met several new faces.
The Ortho doc came in and talked about the homd recovery process for the shoulder and signed off on her half of my release.
A Trauma surgeon intern came in and reviewed the overnight notes with me. The overnight Doc seems to think I should go home today, but we gave to wait on the day shift trauma dude to get on site, do his eval, and sign off.
All signs are looking good for a trip back to Shelby today.
 
Close call M. We're glad you're on the healing side of this.
Four wheelers make me nervous, my SIL rolled here's over in the front yard. It broke her collar bone in about 10 pieces. The docs said there wasn't enough to work with. She wasn't able to lift a coffee pot for years until they found a doctor with some technique.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
Close call M. We're glad you're on the healing side of this.
Four wheelers make me nervous, my SIL rolled here's over in the front yard. It broke her collar bone in about 10 pieces. The docs said there wasn't enough to work with. She wasn't able to lift a coffee pot for years until they found a doctor with some technique.
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Good Lord, my situation is pretty straight forward and has been adventurous enough, I cant imagine going through it that long.
Glad she finally got the right help and is doing better
 
Me. said:
Dang, brother! Wow. Glad to see the terrible situation was handled so well. How'd they transport you down?

To see you already on the mend, and having such positivity and gratitude.
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Improvised slings, immobilized to the body, a special built two seater ATV, and half a metric ton of fentanyl lol

There are accees roads they can use that trail riders cant. We went down the mountain from whete we were a good little ways and were able to turn off on one of those access trails to skip a couple miles of rough stuff.
It dumped us out onto a gravel road that turned into hardball where the ambulance was parked.
 
Me. said:
Dang, brother! Wow. Glad to see the terrible situation was handled so well. How'd they transport you down?

To see you already on the mend, and having such positivity and gratitude.
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Mitch Rapp said:
Improvised slings, immobilized to the body, a special built two seater ATV, and half a metric ton of fentanyl lol

There are accees roads they can use that trail riders cant. We went down the mountain from whete we were a good little ways and were able to turn off on one of those access trails to skip a couple miles of rough stuff.
It dumped us out onto a gravel road that turned into hardball where the ambulance was parked.
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They also had this little trailer, a litter, and gear to winch the litter up over rough spots that would have litetally bounced the trailer and patient to death.
Thank the Lord I was ambulatory and didnt have to take that ride
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
Glad you made it Pard......enjoy every day in the future....the sky will be bluer and the water wetter......remember...none of us is bullet proof!


Or ATV Proof.......
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While this kind of thing is bad for anyone that goes through it, it has also made me realize that Im not as young as I used to be.
 
Glad you're somewhat OK. Lots of fun things are also dangerous to our bodies!
 
Well, I've now seen the trauma Doc.
She reviewed all the overnight notes, all the imaging from Morganton, took me off the fluid drip, told nutrition services to start feeding me, and scheduled a final blood panel for 2 pm.
If that turns out ok, she thinks I can begin the checkout procedure about 5 pm.
 
Wow, praying for a complete heal. My wife has rolled her 4 wheeler 3 times, two times on the Hatfield and McCoy Trails. I told her I was going to have to install wheelie bars and training wheels🤣.
 
Tatershooter said:
Wow, praying for a complete heal. My wife has rolled her 4 wheeler 3 times, two times on the Hatfield and McCoy Trails. I told her I was going to have to install wheelie bars and training wheels🤣.
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Lemme know where you source them from. I might need some myself 🤣
 
Wow. Bad as it is / was, I am glad that it wasn't worse, cause it sure could have been.

I routinely use our zero turn mower and it has the roll bar on the back, because those things can flip. I always wear the seatbelt with it, too because should it flip that is what will keep you from getting under the machine.
 
Hope you have a speedie recovery and glad it wasn't worse.
Out of curiosity, were you wearing any kind of protective gear that kept if from being worse?
 
Prayers for a full and fast recovery.
 
Dang, I'm late to this tread but glad to hear you're doing OK.

Will send a word up for a quick & full recovery.
 
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