To Mountain Bikers and friends My friend and professional cycling coach Swen Lauer has had a most unfortunate biking accident . During a coaching session with one of his riders in Stellenbosch Swen had a high impact crash landing on his head which resulted in a fracture of the C2 vertebra in his neck . This is an extremely dangerous fracture, also known as the “Hangman’s Fracture” and during the course of the next 24hrs Swen would realise how extremely lucky he was to have survived with no permanent damage. To some extent his helmet and superior physical condition must have helped Swen was faced with the option of surgery to fuse the adjoining neck vertebra which would have severely restricted his mobility and instead opted to try non surgical treatment involving lying flat on his back in traction for over 3 weeks .Please see the attached photo . What happens is that a ‘ halo ‘ callipher with extremely sharp ends is screwed into the skull on both sides of the head and attached to a 4kg weight which hangs off a pulley off the end of the bed. The weight pulls the neck joints open so that the fractured bone can relocate and hopefully reattach . This is real test of one’s mental strength , just lying motionless on your back , waiting & waiting & hoping ! Because of Swen’s commitment to his riders, an occupational therapist was brought in to set up his computer above his head to enable him to write fitness and training plans, answer e-mails etc. This was very important in keeping his mind busy and has kept him in touch with his athletes and friends . The good news is that this procedure seems to have helped in stabilising the damaged vertebra and he is now being treated and having to wear a neck brace for a number of months . His progress is being monitored & supervised by senior neuro specialists and at this stage his recovery is looking positive . Swen is an internationally recognised professional cycling coach and is entirely focused on working with cyclists in the Western Cape region to improve their fitness and cycling skills . His accident , medical costs and not being able to work have been a huge stress and worry for him . Swen’s medical costs to date currently exceed R 95 000 and he will be faced with further costs depending on his progress . He has no insurance cover to assist him in this regard and was , due to his condition , not able to fly to Germany to get treatment . Whilst he clearly cannot cycle for a period till full rehabilitation , he can actively continue to assist mountain & other bikers and athletes with fitness and training programmes via email and on line using his Training Peaks programme .. Personal appeal from a friend Swen is simply an awesome guy with an incredible passion and love for mountain biking and deserves to be helped during these difficult times . This appeal does not come from Swen but from his close friends and is an appeal to all those who have had the benefit of meeting & befriending him or have been coached by him to assist him in the following manner ; ( a ) to enrol with Swen as an athlete on his fitness and coaching programmes ( course duration can be tailor made ) ( b ) To assist by donating funds towards his costs . Any help will be appreciated ! Can you please contact : Swen at : mycoachza@gmail : tel (072) 5507549 should you seek more information regarding his training & fitness coaching courses or Nicola at : nicola@stillwatersports tel Mobile: +27 83 256 5466 regarding donations towards his costs. You can also contact me per details below We look forward to a positive response from the cycling community in this regard
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:09:07 +0000
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