The saying goes “you have to get back on the horse that threw you.” In 2018, you just have to replace the horse with a four-stroke.
A West Gippsland farmer who reportedly sustained a broken neck during a spill in December was forced to ride his motorcycle back home, while supporting his own head by the hair.
Calling in to 3AW this morning to recount his gnarly story, 73-year-old toughnut Jim said he was on his bike, checking his farm for the presence of grasshoppers, when he hit a ditch.
He described taking a rough fall, but didn’t believe he was knocked out.
“I got to my feet, I knew there was something seriously wrong,” Jim said. “My head wouldn’t stay up.”
Recognising he needed to get help ASAP, Jim pondered the options to hoof it back home. Unable to support his own head for now-obvious reasons, he improvised.
“The pain, it hurt so much, so I just held it up by my hair,” Jim said.
After riding 500 metres back to the farmhouse, Jim dialled 000. An ambulance rushed him to Dandenong Hospital. He was subsequently transferred to the The Austin Hospital.
Doctors diagnosed the battler with fractures to his top two vertebrae, requiring surgery and “four bolts in my skull.”
While Jim says the healing process will be a pretty long slog, but that he’s also projected to make a full recovery.
Perhaps leave the grasshoppers be next time, though.
