Many Thanks!

I want to thank many people who helped me through a terrible time:

     Thanks to the Wayne Township Fire Department and the the Police who were at the crash scene. Without your fast response and skills, I might not be here today to write this. Your care at the crash scene was vital to my survival after such a serious crash. I'm so sorry I don't remember any of you that helped me that day. I remember nothing of the crash! MANY THANKS to the crew!
     Two years after the crash, we returned for another biking vacation, and I contacted the Wayne Township Fire Department. I called to find out when someone would be at the Fire Department building so I could bring a thank-you card for the whole crew. We ended up driving there and meeting with the entire Fire Department. Please click on the "Fire Dept." button on the left for more about our "reunion" with the crew, along with photos. What an enjoyable visit!
      Thanks to the helicopter crew who airlifted me from the crash site to the hospital.
     Thanks to everyone at Miami Valley Hospital who helped take care of me. Thanks to the Doctors/Surgeons who repaired so many broken bones and injuries, and helped me start the healing process. Without your skilled work putting me back together, I wouldn't be able to walk, work, ride or live a normal life again. Due to possibly a combination of shock and the pain medication, I remember very little of my time at Miami Valley Hospital. I do remember a doctor asking me about my pain level, from a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst. I remember answering "eleven"! I never knew I could hurt so bad! I really appreciate all who helped me while I was there. I was badly broken, and needed much care. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to the Ambulance crew who hauled me all the way back to Northern Michigan after being released from Miami Valley Hospital. It was a long ten hour drive, and then you had to turn around and go all the way back again. MANY THANKS to both of you.
     Thanks to all the crew at Boulder Park Terrace Nursing Home for so much help. I spent about three weeks there, until I was well enough to go to the Acute Rehab Unit. You helped me so much when I could do very little for myself! You did all you could to help me through a really rough time, and you did it with compassion. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to all at the Acute Rehab Unit at Northern Michigan Regional Hospital. Thanks to the crew who helped take care of me, and worked with me there, you taught me many things about how to deal with my many injuries, how to manage different tasks I would need to do once I go home. You helped me learn to do many things, and how to move around. With my left leg broken, the left side of the pelvis bone crushed, (no weight bearing allowed on my left leg), left arm in a cast, right hand in a partial cast/brace and three broken ribs, I remember how hard it was learning how to transfer from the bed to the wheelchair. You did a wonderful job preparing me for going home. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to Dr. McMurray and the crew at Bay Street Orthopedics. You helped me through the healing process, helped me quit the pain medication, and the joy I had when you took the cast off my left arm and the brace off my right hand, and especially when I was told I could start putting weight on my left leg again. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to all at Vital Care who helped me once I arrived back home. I remember so much work you did helping me get movement back in my left arm & shoulder. I also remember so much help with getting my left leg to learn how to walk again. I will never forget those first few little steps - Hey, I will walk again! I remember the helping hand reaching around the edge of the shower curtain to hand the shampoo, soap or towel when I needed it. Your people helped get me ready for the next stage of my recovery. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to the crew at Tim Bondy Therapy, (Harbor Springs location). You helped me work through many obstacles. I first came in your door using a walker, and you helped me relearn how to walk so well that people have told me they can't even tell I'd been injured. You helped me get back towards a normal life again and helped prepare me to go back to work. When I could finally get back on my bike for a short tryout ride, the very first place I rode was to show you what I could finally do again. I really appreciate all the help! MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to my family, my Church family, friends and neighbors who helped us here at home. In order for me to come home from the hospital, we had to have a wheelchair ramp in place so my wife could get me in and out of our house. Many of you got together and helped build a temporary wheelchair ramp. You did a really super job, it looked nice and it really worked well. I really appreciate all the time and work that went into it. Even the building inspector that came to check it was great. He even showed up on the Independence Day Holiday to do the final inspection. That was above & beyond the call of duty, just so I could come home. Other things that were so much help was when neighbors came over and helped my wife unload our vacation stuff from our truck, helped clean up some of the leftover stuff from having our driveway redone, and even mowing the yard. That kind of help took some of the load off my wife. MANY THANKS to all.
      Another wonderful surprise was when I received a call from a bicycle riding Christian friend wanting to know where I wanted the firewood stacked that he and his wife, son and some of his friends went out and cut, split, delivered for us! We never even asked, but these Christian friends were there helping us with at least a third of our year's supply of firewood. MANY THANKS to all.
      Friends from our Church family at Liberty Baptist Church brought meals over for us, and I enjoyed many visits at Boulder Park, at the Acute Rehab unit, and here at home, and I recieved many calls and cards with encouragement. One family, while on the way home from a vacation in Texas even stopped at the hospital in Dayton to visit me! You can't know how much things like that meant to me. MANY THANKS to all.
     Thanks to my wife Donna, who had to go through so much with me because of what happened. She did so much, when I could do so little. She had to drive me everywhere, schedule everything, pick up stuff I needed, even tie my shoes when I still couldn't reach that far yet. She had to do everything around the home. Even when I was getting better and back to work part-time, she had to help me carry firewood in for our woodstove. She helped me with that through the entire winter. I have no idea how I would have gotten through this without her.
My Dad (Gordon Wheeler) was a lot of help too. When Donna needed to get back to work at least half days, he came over for many afternoons so there would be someone here with me so she could go back to work. MANYTHANKS to both of you.
     Special thanks to people (including my wife) who rode their bicycles over to see me! I've had many friends who have come to see me, but just a little special thanks to those who rode their bikes to come see "Bikeman". Even while I was still in Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, a couple of our biking friends we've made while there on vacation rode to the hospital a couple of times to see me. MANY THANKS to all.
     Most important of all has been the God I believe in. Without His protection, I don't beleive I would have survived the crash at all. Without His healing power, I don't beleive I would have even had a chance of walking again, or working full time again only seven months after having so many broken bones. Just after the crash, my wife was told by one of the Doctors that they "thought I would walk again", but they didn't know how well, and I might not be able to work or ride a bike again. To even be able to ride again, means so much to me.That is a great example of the amazing healing power of the Lord God I believe in. MANY, MANY THANKS to Him.
     To anyone reading this, I would like to say:
If you are riding your bicycle on a Non-Motorized bicycle path, and you suddenly see an All Terrain Vehicle speeding right at you, it would be a really good time for you to know that Jesus Christ is watching over you. MANY, MANY THANKS to Him.

Greg
"Bikeman"