BIKE HELMETS.....Do YOU wear one??

curvykim78: I don't know where you live, but some states require helmet use by law (see: http://www.helmets.org/mandator.htm). In my work, I see stats on bicycle helmet use all the time and in the majority of cases, medical evidence proves that a bike helmet could have saved a person's life. I also had a friend die when I was 14 because he was not wearing a bike helmet and he got hit by a car--splattered his brains (literally) all over the street in front of me. Other than that, I also personally choose to wear a helmet (despite the fact that Utah has no law...which is dumb because we have one of the highest bicycle accident brain injury rates in the country) because I believe in doing everything I can to keep myself safe. If a helmet even provided me only 10% extra protection...even only 1%...I would wear one. Because that's a slightly greater chance that I could survive a crash.

I should also mention that I was riding our parkway a few months ago and hit a patch of grit sand that caused my bicycle to go out from beneath me on a sharp curve. I hit the pavement and slammed my head against it and then kept sliding into the river. I had a severe concussion but was conscious and able to get myself out of the water. The hospital told me later that had I not been wearing a helmet I would likely have been knocked out and then drowned in the river. I am so glad that I was wearing a helmet and didn't become a statistic.

YES, PLEASE WEAR A HELMET. I never wore one when I was a kid and stupidly, stupidly did not
think of one before letting my 10 year old son go out on a group outing ...he was on a super
saucer (those round blue sleds) and ended up spinning into a tree. He was taken by ambulance to
a bigger city hospital where we found out he had fractured his skull (it was so bad it was in splinters
on the right side) bleeding on the brain and was in a coma. The doctors did not expect him to live
at all and gave a last ditch effort by removing almost half of his skull so his brain could swell as much
as it needed to. Our son was dying before our eyes...the only thing that saved him was God. There
is no way he would have survived otherwise. My son had people praying for him around the world.
He had to have his skull rebuilt and hematomas removed from his brain and was on life support
for nearly a week. He was able to come home after three weeks...the doctors were amazed at how
well and how fast he recovered. God is awesome. I was amazed when the brain surgeon told us
that he didn't even make his kids wear helmets...but that he would start now. Please, please
make your kids wear the helmets and wear them yourselves...life is too precious to take a chance
with. I will never forgive myself for not thinking of it at the time.

YES, PLEASE WEAR A HELMET. I never wore one when I was a kid and stupidly, stupidly did not
think of one before letting my 10 year old son go out on a group outing ...he was on a super
saucer (those round blue sleds) and ended up spinning into a tree. He was taken by ambulance to
a bigger city hospital where we found out he had fractured his skull (it was so bad it was in splinters
on the right side) bleeding on the brain and was in a coma. The doctors did not expect him to live
at all and gave a last ditch effort by removing almost half of his skull so his brain could swell as much
as it needed to. Our son was dying before our eyes...the only thing that saved him was God. There
is no way he would have survived otherwise. My son had people praying for him around the world.
He had to have his skull rebuilt and hematomas removed from his brain and was on life support
for nearly a week. He was able to come home after three weeks...the doctors were amazed at how
well and how fast he recovered. God is awesome. I was amazed when the brain surgeon told us
that he didn't even make his kids wear helmets...but that he would start now. Please, please
make your kids wear the helmets and wear them yourselves...life is too precious to take a chance
with. I will never forgive myself for not thinking of it at the time.

Please. Forgive yourself. Sometimes not thinking of something just happens. Okay, what your son went through (and the rest of your family also) was pretty tough. But you learned from it, you improved as a parent, and you're willing to put your difficult story out there so the rest of us don't have to suffer through the same fate as your son, and your family. That's pretty courageous.

Please. Forgive yourself. It's the right thing to do for you, your son, and your family.