Al Truscott In Bad Crash
Dear EN Friends-
This is Al Truscott’s wife, Cheryl, writing to let you know that Al was in a traumatic bicycle crash on Saturday morning. The good news is that he never lost consciousness, he received immediate medical care at one of the best trauma centers in the state (Madigan Army Hospital), and he did not suffer core injuries. The bad news is that he has significant injuries to his jaw, left wrist, trachea, along with central spinal cord bruising which makes his forearms and fingers numb, tingly, and weak. The injuries he sustained to his face and neck required an emergency tracheotomy. Currently, he communicates by spelling out words. The obvious bad news is that he will not be going to Kona nor to IM AZ this year, major disappointments as all of you must realize, passionate as he is about doing the Ironman.
Al’s prognosis is very good but recovery will be a full-time job for the next 3 months at least. Medical staff at the hospital have made lots of comments about his fitness: the anesthesiologist who had to inflate his lungs post-op said he had the “lungs of a baby, very pliable” compared to most 61 yo patients he sees. Rehab staff talk about how they work with “young people like Al” and it’s obvious they aren’t talking about his biological age. Several young medical doctors on rounds perk up when they see the Ironman photos and Kona shirt hanging on the ICU walls. Many of them have acknowledged similar dreams and expectations of themselves.
Al tends to look at the world with the glass half-full so I expect that his periodic depression about his set-backs will be overcome with his iron will to move forward. Right now, he signals me to tell you that he is “really pissed off”. He wants you to know that he will not be following the forum for awhile but I will be providing updates about Al and we will be following this thread. I will read him your posts. I think he is counting on his EN team to keep him up.
Thanks,
Cheryl (IronWife)
PS Al wants to make sure you know that the only bike damage is to the stem!
Comments
Please tell Al we are all thinking of him. Glad he is "OK", and sad he won't be going to Kona, again. I am sure he will recover and I plan to meet him at CDA in 2011.
Edit: And let me add that his wisdom will be greatly missed in the forums.
Cheryl- Big Hugs to you and AL! His Ironwill and fitness, as you mentioned , will help with a speedy recovery.
Please keep us posted! Anything we can do for you?
Cheryl, Thank you so much for posting, keep us informed. May you have the strength you need for Al at this time.
Matt
WOW! Big recovery juju come your way, Al.
Cheryl, please do keep us posted.
I'm so sorry and so crushed. I've only met Al through exchanges here, and even then maybe only a dozen times or so. Nonetheless, I've felt like he's totally taken me under his wing. You know what a special guy he is; you just need to know that many of the rest of us do too. Wish him the best for us. We know how strong he is. We hope he gets that from you.
Keep us posted.
William
So sorry to hear about his accident. My thoughts and prayers with you and Al. Is he still at Madigan? I am not too far from there. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
I have enjoyed all of my interactions with Al over the last year or so. He is a great guy. Take care.
Heal fully, completely and quickly EN friend. We miss you.
Speaking from personal experience, old ironman heal quickly! It appears to be the season for bad crashes with EN folks. We are all repairing well from what I read. Tell Al that I broke my hip socket (ace-tabular) in a bad biking accident mid July and I biked just about 100 miles today. I'm sure he'll be back much sooner than the docs expect.
tom
Best to Al for a strong recovery. Robin Sarner. tacoma.
Sorry to hear about the crash, heres to a speedy recovery. Please keep us posted.
Thanks for letting us know Cheryl. Speedy recovery to Al!
So sorry to hear about Al's crash. My thoughts and prayers are with him and your family. Hope for speedy recovery.
Nathalie
Super bummed to hear this news. Wishing the best for you and your family. Have always thought of you as the voice of reason around here. I hope you are back online soon.
If you approach your recovery with the same smart and dogged approach you apply to your training I am sure you will be back at in advance of all expectations.
God speed!
There isn't a singe Ironman that is more important than your long road to recovery, Al. The discipline, patience and drive that you bring to your training and racing will work wonders during this time.
Cheryl, Thank you so much for the update! As others have said please let us know what we can do to help.
Al, I'm spechless and don't know what to say. I can't begin to thank you for all you have done to help me this year and Theresa, Abigail and I we so looking forward to meeting you in a few weeks. We'll be at Jamba Juice on the 8th thinking of you and of course you will be in my thoughts all day on the 9th.
I know you will attack your recovery with the same passion and drive as you training. I can't wait to see the new and improved Al back at it next year even stronger.
Cheryl- thank you so much for posting this thread, and please keep us updated as Al progresses until he is able to do so for himself. I agree with Olivia- hearing he is "pissed off" and that he's already determined the physical status of the bike tells me he's actually doing pretty good :-) If there is ANYTHING you might need, please don't hesitate to post here for some help. This team pulls together in times like this and we really want to help!
Al- Rest and recover. I'm sure you'll have the PA's and Rehab folks worn out with all the focus you will put on getting better! Go easy on them, OK? And let me know if you want any more salt water taffy to make the journey a little sweeter too, happy to send you another box!
Cheryl and Al,
So, so sorry to hear this!! I have so many questions, but one main one....what the heck happened??? Too many bike crash's this year!! Praying for recovery for Al! He is such a rock around the haus...he will be missed and look forward to his return!
Just reading the tagline for this post gave me chills to the bone. As many have already said Al is a tremendous part of the EN presence. It wouldn't be the same without him. Here is to a speedy recover and a return to the IM world.
Best wishes,
Pete
Oh, no! Al! Speedy recovery -- we want you back here and racing and want you back soon!
Heal well.
Thoughts and prayers out to Al. He has been great to me in the haus with nothing but sound advice and encouragement, there should definitely be some good karma coming his way for a speedy recovery.