Motorcycle Accident in 1986

These photos were taken by the local newspaper. The person hurt in this accident was alert and was talking with the paramedics and the police. He did not feel anything from the waste down. This was not due to any back injuries but was from the extent of pain going through the body.... the nerves inferior of the waste shut down.

After being taken to the hospital he was stabilized and then life flighted to the University Utah Hospital. While on the life flight his leg, from the knee down, was so swollen the skin began to act like a tourniquet. The medical person slit his leg open from behind the knee almost to the ankle, to relieve the swelling. His left femur had a compound fracture with both ends of the broken femur breaking through the skin. From the knee down his fibula and tibia were broken in more than 17 places. His ankle was also broken in several places.


The photos below were taken by the patients father. He had over 13 surgeries and to this day still has a metal rod down the center of his femur.



The next 2 photos were taken after the skin graph was done. If you look close you can see the grid design of the skin graph on the muscles.



The swelling has gone down noticeably now.... Still having surgeries. He had to have his ankle re-broken because it was set wrong during one of the first surgeries due to swelling.



On the right medial side of the thigh you can see where the skin was taken to use for the graphing.


He finally got to go home after spending several months in the hospital. He was in a hospital bed at his home and had a pulley rigged to help keep his leg elevated at the right height that the Dr.s had asked for. He spent his Senior year in High School in a wheel chair and then was on crutches for months after that.

The photo to the left was taken in May 2008, 22 years later. He has very limited movement in his ankle from having his ankle bones fused together. This makes it very awkward for him to run, ride a bike, or shift gears on a motorcycle. (yes he still likes to ride motorcycles) His foot quit growing and the muscles in his foot lost some of their mass. This caused enough difference between his two feet that once he was able to wear shoes again he had to buy a different size for each foot.