Local athlete recovering from life-threatening bicycle accident
The Road to Recovery
Local athlete recovering from life-threatening bicycle accident
It can happen in the blink of an eye . A split second , the moment when life and death hangs precariously on the balance .
For Southern Indiana resident Dave Miller , that moment came on July 1 as he and three friends cycled the winding roads in Floyds Knobs .
Miller , a seasoned Ironman athlete and avid cyclist , hit a patch of wet road . A skid . The flash of oncoming car .
Miller collided with the vehicle , and the accident – that split second – changed his life . The shiny black cycling helmet he wore saved it . From his recovery room at Frazier Rehab Institute in downtown Louisville , Miller and his wife Stacy opened up to Extol about that day and the weeks that followed the accident that left him temporarily paralyzed .
Miller recalls the roads were dry that day , although it had rained the night before . He and his partners were on a 30-mile ride , leaving from Chapel Hill Road . “ The roads were dry for 29 and a half miles ,” Miller says . “ We turned back on Chapel Hill Road to finish , and my buddy said ‘ This is the last hill . Let ’ s go !’ So , we all kind of hammered down .”
Miller , who was second in line , hit a right-hand turn across a small bridge just as a car turned from the opposite direction . Miller ’ s brake locked up , and “ My bike went right and I went left into the left rear quarter panel of that SUV ,” he says . “ The doctors said it was almost like a whiplash injury , and my nose was broken , too . I pretty much face-planted into the side of this car , and my shoulders and head took the brunt of the injury . I never lost consciousness . … The helmet definitely was my saving grace . I did see the blue sky , and the next thing I was on the ground , and I knew I was in trouble .” The initial effects were devastating . Two of the other riders were veterinarians and knew not to move Miller . “ When I got in the ambulance , I couldn ’ t feel anything from my ( upper chest ) down ,” Miller says . “ And then it was ICU for 12 days .”
The longtime athlete , runner and cyclist underwent a fusion on five vertebrae in his neck . Surgeons left a broken bone in his back to heal on its own .
Miller moved from University of Louisville Hospital to Frazier Rehab on July 12 to begin his long journey to recovery . Therapy starts at 8:30 a . m . with occupational therapy , helping Miller to relearn simple daily tasks , like brushing his teeth and washing his face .
“ They do a lot with my hands and bringing them back ,” he says . As an employee at UPS , hand coordination is a necessity . The extremities , he says , are often the last to come back .
Miller undergoes respiratory therapy daily , as any spinal injury causes harm to the diaphragm also . The rest of the hours are passed between occupational and physical therapies .
“ The physical therapist put me in a harness to stand me up and get my legs moving because their research has proved that … repetition will bring your muscles back and have your brain ‘ talk ’ to your spine and that ’ s going to make those muscles move again ,” Miller says .
In early August , he moved to the research floor at Frazier for local motor training , where a team of therapists work together to move Miller ’ s body . The first day , the harness and treadmill system found Miller to hold just 65 percent of his body weight . At last count , he was up to 96 percent .
At the time of this article , Miller was slated to return to his home in Southern Indiana . He ’ ll continue at Frazier on an outpatient basis . “ There are only seven places in the country that have this special treadmill , and Frazier is one of them ,” says his wife , Stacy .
“ The therapists here are amazing ,” Dave Miller says .
Adds Stacy Miller : “ Just look how far you ’ ve come .”
Dave can move his arms and legs now , and he says his pain level is good . His right shoulder is his biggest complaint .
By Mandy Wolf Detwiler Photos by David Harrison
26 EXTOL SPORTS / SEPTEMBER 2017