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I just got off the phone w/ Mike's (chihiggs) roommate... Mike was in a terrible, terrible accident last Sunday. He is in the hospital and finally breathing on his own again. They just took him off the respirator. He is still in ICU though. He has a broken collar bone, shoulder, every rib on his left side, his pelvis, a punctured lung, ruptured spleen... there's more, but thats a fair idea of his injuries. No one knows what happened yet... the police found him unconcious and not breathing along side the road. He had crashed his motorcycle, but there were no skid marks, no other vehicles around, or anything in the road. He hasn't been able to talk yet, but they are hoping he will be able to soon. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I will keep posting as I hear more.

Oh my that's horrible

Do you know if his family lives in the valley?

I'm not sure about how much family is here, but I know family is all that is allowed to see him right now.

He just sent me a pm last Saturday. I've been hearing from him about once a week and was just going to send him a message after checking out the website. He was planning on taking his bike up the 'backroad' to Crown King on the 26th. He will certainly be in my prayers.

That's horrible. I hope everything turns out okay. Can we start up a collection for him? Is there one set up already?

I haven't heard about any collections started... thats a wonderful idea. Mike is such a great guy, I'm sure that anything anyone can do would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any ideas, PLEASE let me know. I will do whatever I can...

ChiHiggs will certainly be in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks for letting us know. We'd also like to contribute in whatever way we can as part of a HAZ group effort.

Mike & Mrs Mike

Terrible news about ChiHiggs; hope his recovery is quick and complete.

I hope he is going to be okay. This is shocking to say the least.

jmzblond wrote:I just got off the phone w/ Mike's (chihiggs) roommate... Mike was in a terrible, terrible accident last Sunday. He is in the hospital and finally breathing on his own again. They just took him off the respirator. He is still in ICU though. He has a broken collar bone, shoulder, every rib on his left side, his pelvis, a punctured lung, ruptured spleen... there's more, but thats a fair idea of his injuries. No one knows what happened yet... the police found him unconcious and not breathing along side the road. He had crashed his motorcycle, but there were no skid marks, no other vehicles around, or anything in the road. He hasn't been able to talk yet, but they are hoping he will be able to soon. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I will keep posting as I hear more.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. Definitely a rider's worst nightmare. I have been in a few wrecks myself racing those things, but this one sounds pretty bad. Usually there are some tell-tale signs as to what happened. Kinda weird. I never met Mike, but I'll give what I can to his cause. I can relate...

Best regards...

Well, I've been thinking about this all night, and here are some ideas that I've come up with...

Regarding monetary collections, I'm thinking Mike's healthcare expenses even w/ insurance are going to be astronomical. I just got off the phone w/ the hospital and Monday morning I'm going to get details on making donations directly to the hospital that will be applied towards his bill. That way anyone that wanted to help out w/ a donation could do that directly to the hospital... how does that sound??

Also, I was thinking that maybe if we organized some kind of meals plan when he is finally released. I know that he isn't coming home for awhile which would give us time to plan. And if people wanted to cook food and take it to him, and his friends and family that will be taking care of him, I'm sure that would be a huge help and be appreciated as well.

These were just some overnight thoughts. Please tell me what you think, and if anyone else has any other suggestions, please don't hesitate to speak up.

Jamie, Count me in on whatever gets organized. Also let me know if I can help pull anything together in any way. I never met Mike but we messaged back and forth. Please keep me posted, I'd like to help in any way I can. Cindy

I'm in Jamie. I don't know how good his insurance is but I am sure he will still have a pretty high tab.

How shocking! I am sure he has a long recovery road ahead, but knowing Mike he will pull out of this. He is one tough cookie.

Having just endured my back problems and having overcome my throat cancer, I feel for Mike. Wells Fargo seems to do a good job of setting up trust fund accounts, I don't know Mike well enough to get the ball rolling, but I'm willing to contribute what I can. Having been a motorcyclist in the past, I understand how things sometimes just happen, that's why they are called accidents.

Could someone who knows Mike better than I get things in gear?

On second thought, what hospital is he in, I want to take a more hands on approciate to help. Words are cheap, actions are priceless..

That would be approach, not appropriate, sorry, too much Merlot

I cannot express this well, other than I hope things goes well for chihiggs.

jmzblond wrote:...I'm going to get details on making donations directly to the hospital that will be applied towards his bill. That way anyone that wanted to help out w/ a donation could do that directly to the hospital... how does that sound??

jmzblond, I think what you are doing here is most compassionate. You are truly a caring person. I would like to make this suggestion: Unless chihiggs has income insurance he is probably out of income now and with no income you live off of reserves or whatever. If there is no whatever, your bills begin to mount. Mortgage companies and banks don't really care about your personal problems and if you can't pay they will forclose. I don't know about setting up trust funds at the bank (it sounds as though snick33 does) but in my estimation a general-living-expenses fund would be better than paying the hospital a residual amount while chihiggs is going broke.

The meal thing sounds great. I'm willing to do some meals. Let me know when you get it organized.

We can do a meal(s) thing as well...it's a small offering, but it helps...

Mike is at the Scottsdale Osborn Hospital in the ICU room 251. While he's in ICU, only family is allowed to visit. I've never set up a trust fund account for someone else, but I'm willing to look into it.